What is Homeport?

Bike rental based on the Homeport system is a fully automated system enabling bikes to be rented and returned without the need to call anyone, talk to anyone or hand over money to anyone. All you need is a card or key ring with an rfid chip. Homeport takes care of the rest. Homeport is not a conventional rental service: you don't need a large room to store the bikes in - the bikes are safely locked to a stand. That means that there are always several bikes in one area, and when you have finished using the bike you can simply return it to the nearest stand, instead of having to make your way back to the place where you rented it from. As the system is fully automatic, it doesn't need sleep like the staff at an ordinary rental centre, so you can rent a bike whenever you feel like it, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

How does it work?

We have already said that bikes in the Homeport system are safely locked to a stand. To be more precise, they are locked using a steel cable to a Homeport unit, which is the control centre of the given bike rental point. When a user wants to rent or return a bike, he first authenticates himself with the Homeport unit. The unit always knows how many bikes are located at a given rental point and whether the user wants to rent or return a bike. The Homeport unit also provides information to the internet system, which we will explain below.

How to use the system.

Using the system is very easy. After buying a card, you can rent any bike from any stand. All you have to do is to choose a bike, switch on the Homeport unit and follow the instructions on the display. Basically, rentals take place as follows: switch on the Homeport, hold your card up to the symbol on the display, enter your PIN, press a button to choose the bike you want, wait for the authentication process to finish, press a button to confirm your choice of bike, take the bike and off you go. For a more detailed and illustrated explanation of the procedure, click here. Returning the bike is similar, except that you don't need to enter your PIN so it is even faster.

Information on the internet.

Once the user has bought a card, he is automatically registered in the RCC internet system (rental call centre), which allows convenient use of a user account and provides information on the current state of the Homeport system. Here the user can get a statement of his rentals and check, say, whether he has managed to cut the time it takes him to cover the two kilometres from work to the tennis courts. Seriously, though, the RCC can also show you how much credit you have available for further rentals, which is pretty handy. Another important function is a map showing the location of bike stands and how many free bikes there currently are at the stand. You can see an example of the map here.

We look forward to serving you.

That's all there is to it. All the system needs to work properly is - satisfied customers. We look forward to serving you.