Yes, but in my town you can only pick them up at the train station and have to bring them back there. In larger cities there are more stations, or in some place

Yes, but in my town you can only pick them up at the train station and have to bring them back there. In larger cities there are more stations, or in some places you can leave them anywhere, but I've never been to a place where they were abundant. From what I've heard, Munich is a particularly good place. The difference to the chinese bikes is: - The chinese bikes are dirt simple. They sometimes have reliability-oriented features like special tires, otherwise they are just commodity bikes with a lock, painted colorful. Call a bike in contrast is really overengineered, with custom frame and everything. (OK, this is more of an advantage for the company than for the user.) - There are no stations. This is the big difference. Where ever I can walk, I can ride faster. I never look for a bike, I just grab one when I find it. - The bicyles are absolutely abundant. Even at a small subway station in beijing, there are at least 50 of each brand. Contrast it with Hamburg, where in the city center, 2 stops away from the central station, you find a sad docking station with eight empty places. Maybe this is only possible due to "chinese scale", I don't know.