Bike Rio Bike Rental

by michael deleo, contributing reporterrio de janeiro, brazil – recently, the cidade maravilhosa reintroduced its new-and-improved samba (alternative mobility solution through bike renting) bicycle rental system.  the program is composed of approximately sixty stations containing 600 bikes that are mainly distributed throughout ipanema, leblon, lagoa, botanical garden, gavia, botafogo, urca, flamengo and centro.each of these bikes can be rented for the day for r$5, or the month for r$10, by anyone with a credit card and a cell phone with a r$300 deposit.  the bike rio samba social program is an innovative solution to rio's roadway traffic, while simultaneously promoting the exercise habits and healthy lifestyles of the public.the opportunity to rent one of the orange bikes for the day to travel to work and back home for less than the round trip cost of taking the metro is appealing to many locals.marcela guarez, an attorney from rio, says, ?it is genius.  i can now avoid waiting for the bus or the train and head straight to work.  in the meantime, i can also get a bit of exercise.?