Bristol is joining European cities such as Paris and Barcelona with a 24-hour bike hire service.

From tomorrow, a trial scheme with 10 bikes – part-financed with the money that Bristol has received as the UK's first Cycling City – will begin at Parkway station and the University of West of England's Frenchay, St Matthias and Glenside campuses.

Anyone over the age of 12 will be able to rent bikes for any length of time from secure bike racks that in the next few weeks will be installed at more locations across the city, including Temple Meads, Wine Street and the BRI.

Members of the scheme, run by Hourbike, which already runs a similar scheme in Dublin, will each receive a smart card and a pin number. When the pin number is typed into a pad on any of the eight-bike stands, a bike is automatically released, ready to be ridden away.

Bikes can be returned to any Hourbike stand, not just from the location that the bike was rented. The rental period then ends and credit is deducted from the member's account.

During the day, Hourbike staff in vans will travel around Bristol returning bikes to the most popular stands in order to ensure that they are able to cater for demand. The furthest distance between hubs will be the five miles between Temple Meads and Parkway stations, the shortest a few hundred yards between Temple Meads and Temple Quay.

Members can use the internet to check the availability and location of bikes, and the amount of credit in their Hourbike account.

Costs for Hourbike are:

A one-off registration fee of £10, for which the member will receive their Hourbike smart card. Lost cards can be replaced for £5.

The first 30 minutes of bike hire are free. The charge is then £1 per hour or part hour.

If a member uses a bike for a one-way trip, and doesn't bring it back to the same location within a day there is also a surcharge of £1 to help cover the costs of moving the bikes to where they are needed.

The bikes can be hired for any period up to 24 hours. If a member does not return the bike to an Hourbike station within 48 hours of removal, they could be charged £200.

Hourbike director Tim Caswell said: "For the first time, fully automated, 24/7 bike hire is coming to Bristol. The pilot scheme will launch more widely in other areas of Bristol next month but the test sites at Parkway and UWE will help us decide how we develop the service.

"The plan is to have nine hubs and 60 bikes up and running starting in November and for the scheme to grow from there according to demand. We will use the pilot scheme at UWE and Parkway to help inform any refinements that become necessary."

The 10 Dawes bikes in the trial scheme will be older bikes than those used when Hourbike is rolled out across Bristol from next month. All the bikes will be hybrid-style – combining features of mountain and road bikes – with baskets on the rear large enough to carry a briefcase.

Members are told to check that the bike is roadworthy before the hire takes place. Any problems have to be reported immediately to Hourbike, who will allocate another bike if available.

If any of the bikes' working parts become defective while riding, the rider will need to call Hourbike who may issue another bike at the nearest rental station or arrange to pick up the member and the cycle.

Steve Ward, UWE's travel planner, said the university was proud to be involved in the Hourbike scheme from the start.

He said: "As part of UWE's aim to encourage staff and students to use alternatives to cars this cycle hire system complements our existing travel plans.

"This is a scheme we want to see working all over the city. The benefits are fantastic – cycling is good for your health and for the environment and now it's easy on the pocket. This is a real alternative to the costs of owning, storing and maintaining your own bike."