Bicing in Barcelona

25 April 2009


Barcelona has set up a neat bicycle-based system for commuting and errands that complements the public transit system and seems to really extend its reach.


Here's how it works. At many stations throughout the city, typically sited near transit stops, "bicing" bicycles are parked in locked racks. Subscribers to the bicing system can swipe their card at a detector and unlock a bike. They can use the bike for a maximum of two hours. The first 30 min of use is essentially free -- that cost is covered in the subscription cost. For each additional 30 min, the user pays 50 euro cents. (There is a fine for uses longer than 2 h and repeat offenders lose their rental privileges.)

One key feature is that the bikes can be returned to any other station. This seems like a terrific way to extend the reach of a transit system without having to have a provision to carry private bicycles on subway trains or buses.

Subscriptions are available either one week (at 1 euro) or one year (at 30 euros). Too bad for us (and for other tourists), the system is only available for residents now. It has been going here for a few years and seems to be well used. We see "bicing" cycles all around and they make up a fair proportion of all bikes on the road.


I don't know what the whole of Barcelona looks like, but around were we are staying, the system of bike lanes and traffic controls seems to be very well developed.

The total number of bikes in the system is 6000. Bikes are available all days and most hours, although rentals are shut down midnight to 5 AM on weekdays so that the bikes can be redistributed among the stations.

Bravo!

(To learn more, check out www.bicing.com. The website is in Catalan and Spanish, but I can attest that it is not difficult to get a sense of the program with limited ability in even one of these languages.)