Barcelona bikes

I noticed several people riding red bikes in Barcelona recently. So far this year over 100 bike stations has been constructed in the city, strategically located near metro and bus stations. Once you get the “Bicing card”, which is 24 euro each year, you can pick up bikes at the stations and use them for 30 minutes at a time.

Roaming through the Barri Gòtic.

Unfortunately, the bikes are only available to residents of Catalonia at this moment, but they will likely be available to tourists in the near future.

This reminds me of the Lithuanian project a few years back where the mayor of Vilnius launched a bold program. To ease traffic congestion in the city center and getting healthier citizens, 400 orange bikes were placed in the city. No fee was required, just that the bike was properly returned to one of 90 pre-positioned racks. One week later, about 300 of them had been stolen and sold on the black market.

Hopefully the Barcelona project will turn out better than the one in Lithuania.