Gira. Bicicletas de Lisboa 4+

Let's start with the basic app UI. You have a hamburger menu on the left. It has (almost)everything , including charging your prepaid credit and some version id. What It doesn't have is the fracking obvious: The subscriptions which you need to rent the bicycle. Those are on a really tiny user icon on the right of the interface. Why? Who knows.

You charge your credit with a Portuguese bank account. You would assume that you could then use that credit to get your subscription activated right? No. No luck. Now, despite having enough money for the subscription, I have to give my credit card. For 2€. Why? Because they're idiots.

After I do this, I get a SMS from my bank. "Did you try to pay something with your credit card for £271?"
No. No I didn't. I was trying to pay 2€ after the 5€ I had already paid. Apparently that's the ' security deposit that they blocking from my credit card without any clear information or indication when they would release it back. This is fracking idiotic and dishonest and emel should be ashamed of it.
I joke. Emel isn't ashamed of nothing.

If I could leave a 0 star review, I would.

The app is so buggy it inspires literally no trust which isn’t ideal when you’re entering credit card information for the vast security deposits on each bike.

Despite being persistent, IT savvy and trying to set up various accounts on a couple of different phones, we didn’t actually manage to rent one of the bikes despite being charged for the privilege.

Further to that, since returning home from our wonderful trip to Lisbon I’ve been charged again for the rental of two bikes. In total I’ve now paid for the rental of four bikes yet received zero.

The fact this company has my credit card details stored an an app which is so poorly constructed is obviously a massive concern.

As the title emphasises, other services such as Lime bike are prevalent in the city and far simpler to use and are considerably more trustworthy. Despite being probably 10x more expensive, I’d certainly use those if I’m lucky enough to ever return to Lisbon.

Avoid at all costs.

Unfortunately there are a number of problems with the app and it seems the developers have no interest in fixing them. There is definitely a state management problem, the app constantly hangs or shows you the map without the cycle station or returns you to the login screen if you close the app because it hangs or gets stuck on the unlock cycle function and you can never actually get the bike. A lot of times I just end up walking because of the app or because of the docking station sensors. When it rarely works smoothly, it’s nice Lisbon has cycle highways where you can enjoy traveling safely.