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NewsApril 30, 2021

Creating Future Cities that make us proud—first stop Germany, Kiel

The smart city concept's advocate and developer Addix and global micromobility enabler Bikeep have established a partnership to tackle the multimodal public transportation challenge in partnership cities of Tallinn, Kiel, and San Francisco. The collaboration was celebrated with the first Bikeep smart dock station near Kiel's central transportation hub. Near the ferry, central train, and bus station, the Smart Dock bike racks enable a seamless transition from one vehicle to another—with a focused emphasis on clean transportation.

It is one of the many initiatives of a wider smart city concept both companies are keen on advancing across the region. Addix participates in the Clean Autonomous Public Transport project (CAPTn) in Kiel and the Kiel Fjord. Building infrastructure and a ferry to integrate waterways into urban mobility is one important step toward reducing carbon emissions and helping citizens move around in a greener, more sustainable way.

"Clean Autonomous Public Transport is essential for Smart Mobility, but needs to include all kinds of transportation, especially bikes. We are proud to work together with Bikeep to integrate secure and smart bike lockers into our digital infrastructure for Smart Cities and help cities worldwide to reduce CO2 emissions and become climate neutral," summarizes Björn Schwarze, CEO of ADDIX.

Mobility stations and hubs are becoming more popular globally as municipalities struggle to accommodate car traffic that has a devastating effect on residents' health, carbon footprint, and urban environment. Skyrocketing bike sales indicate the need for robust, well-planned infrastructure that people are willing to use. E-bikes—also called "the second car"—require dedicated charging stations to support everyday use.

Bikeep CEO Kristjan Lind emphasizes the need for change: "The smart city concept is more than digitalization and convenience—it is the foundation of a better, more sustainable future. When cities like Paris restructure their entire center to push cars to the perimeter, what is stopping others? We should strive for a smarter urban environment, and I am extremely thrilled to do that with a partner like Addix that has taken the smart city concept to actualization in many projects like this."

ADDIX and Bikeep established their technology partnership with the inauguration of the Smart Dock bike racks at the Hörncampus Kiel on 28 April. Mobile residents of Kiel can now safely store their bikes at the hub and charge their e-bikes for free at two of the five stations simultaneously. Bikes are secured against theft and can be accessed using an NFC/RFID card or the Bikeep app—free of charge.

The project is one of many steps toward Smart City Kiel and promoting alternative mobility concepts.

About ADDIX

ADDIX Internet Services GmbH is an experienced IT services provider specializing in urban WiFi, FIWARE software development, and Smart City solutions. Their portfolio spans internet access, distribution and maintenance (WLAN, LoRaWAN, bi-directional radio), data centers, and software development. Through practical Smart City and IoT projects, ADDIX has built strong professional competence in real-time data acquisition, transfer, and storage to power AI-based mobility recommendations. In the CAPTN project, ADDIX focuses on local passenger transport and the data infrastructure required to support it.

About Bikeep

Bikeep is an award-winning global micromobility enabler providing e-bike charging stations and secure bike parking facilities in 16 countries. Its technology is used by municipalities, companies, campuses, and residential properties to combat bike theft and increase cycling rates.

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