BYKY, the bike sharing service in the Middle East (also part of the largest international bike sharing network Nextbike) recently installed a bike station near Marina Waves in Salmiya. Bike sharing is a service where bicycles are made available to rent by people for a short period of time, and in cities with a lot of stations, you could use the bikes to ride from one area to another and then park them at the station nearest to you. From what I can tell, in Kuwait we currently have just this one station and it’s clearly placed there to be used for fun and not as a means of transportation.
The first BYKY Station in Kuwait is located near the Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmad Hall [Map] which makes it practical to pick up a bike and ride it down the scenic path to Scientific Center and back.
The price to use the bikes is as follows:
KD1.5 – 30 Minutes
KD2 – 1 Hour
KD2.5 – 2 Hours
KD3 – 3 Hours
KD3.5 – 4 Hours
KD4 – 5 Hours
KD6 – 24 Hours
If you don’t lock the bike when you bring it back to the station, then there is an additional charge of KD1.5. If you don’t return the bike to the station and instead say leave it next to Scientific Center, then there is an additional charge of KD6 for ever 10km you’re away from the station. Payment is made by credit card or Knet.
I’ve reached out to BYKY to find out if they’ll be adding more stations in Kuwait, once they get back to me I’ll update this post.
Update: According to a reader there is a second BYKY Station next to Scientific Center.
21 replies on “Bike Sharing in Kuwait with BYKY”
This is a great addition to the waterfront. Hoping they setup more stations along the entire way to the towers.
Only thing that bothers me is that if I have to make a call for support, I have to dial someone in UAE.
There’s another station I spotted at the end of Marina beach under the starbucks tent just before the scientific center 😉
Thanks!
Funny enough, if you look closely at the first picture…you notice the number they posted on the blue board isn’t a Kuwaiti one. XD
That’s the hotline number, thats why.
So the hotline must be outside of Kuwait? WTF?
They should (probably by law) have a local customer care number. Even if all it does is forward the call through VOIP to UAE.
If u look closely it’s not a hotline number it’s the bike tracking number. Every bike has different digits on it
If you look even closer you’ll see its not a bike tracking number it’s a hotline number. Every bike has different digits on it but they’re specifically talking about the hotline number which is a Dubai number.
If you hold it extremely close (eyeballs touching the screen) you will see stars. I like stars. Stars make me happy.
Lols! this crack me up.. hahaha
I tried to use it. It takes ages to activate account; they never answered my emails; Knet does not work with them. I gave up.
Had the same experience 🙁
And what if someone steals it?
It costs £2 in London for 24 hours!! And you need to use it for 30 mins then dock it and use another bike of you want to continue your journey. If you don’t then it’s £1 for each extra hour.
6 KD for 24 hours!! That’s unreasonable
In London its £2 to access the bike, then you get 30mins free, after that you pay £2 for every 30mins. So if I did the math correctly thats £48 per day not £2. So KD18 for 24 hours.
Source: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles/what-you-pay
In Philadelphia you pay $15 monthly fee that gives you access to unlimited rides up to one hour each ride. https://www.rideindego.com/passes/
I really don’t understand why almost everything in Kuwait is ridiculously overpriced.
Purchasing power is much higher here than in Philly but more importantly, in Philly the bikes are a means of commuting. They would used a lot more often and the company running them can recoup their costs quickly. In kuwait, people are gonna use this a few months of the year and not that often, so cost is gonna be higher on the local company.
Hi, I had checked out the websites that you had provided. I noticed that when I went to Kuwait to see the stations available, turns out there is 3 byky spots; Marina (near marina hotel), Prime & toast restaurant Marina and scientific center near Starbucks.
https://www.bykystations.com/en/dubai/locations/
thanks their whole website is confusing
The idea is good but needs a bit of tweaking. The charges are steep, doesn’t look into profile of the people using it … are they targeting children or adults? Start-up is 1.5KD steep for a child, if they are looking at an adult, he is already there for a stroll not for biking, if at all for biking he might have one of his own. Summers on anvil, Ramadan coming too, don’t see them making any more progress in coming months.
These bike stations aren’t there anymore. They have stopped operating.