bicingwatch

Sightline Daily: Two Wheels and High Heels

2012-01-24T09:34:00.001+01:00

via Sightline Daily: Two Wheels and High Heels:

"Bike-share programs are sweeping the world but not, as yet, Cascadia. They are very successful at boosting bike numbers. Apparently, people used to point and stare if you were pedaling in Barcelona. Bicing, Barcelona’s bike share program, has changed that in just a few years. Bicing started in 2007 and quickly tripled cycling trips according to Miquel Ruscalleda, who directs Barcelona’s cycling efforts."

Very good article with an overview of cycling in cities all over the world.

I can confirm the pointing and staring happening a few years ago in Barcelona.

Bizi Zaragoza: 3.2 million bicycle trips in 2011

2012-01-12T14:04:00.001+01:00

via heraldo.es "El servicio Bizi supera los 7 millones de usos desde su inicio":

"En 2011, el servicio Bizi sumó 3.200.000 usos más y llegó a los 7 millones de desplazamientos, desde que comenzó en 2008. El año pasado, se amplió el servicio, llegando a 130 estaciones, 1.300 bicis y 39.000 abonados.

El Bizi comenzó en 2008 para le Expo, con 30 paradas, 300 bicicletas y un precio promocional de 6 euros. Tras la Expo, el abono anual pasó a 20 y ahora cuesta 25.

El incremento de usos ha sido progresivo: 220.000 en 2008, 1.480.000 en 2009, 2.100.000 en 2010 y 3.200.000, en 2011."

bcn.cat: 26% rise in the number of accidents involving bicycles

2012-01-11T14:54:00.000+01:00

via bcn.es - Traffic fatalities in the city drop by 20% :

"While motorcycle- and moped-related accidents have dropped by 1% and 16% respectively, the number of bicycle-related accidents has risen, representing 3% of all vehicles involved in accidents.
With more than 106,000 bicycle journeys made every day, bicycle-related accidents in the city have risen in number from close to 400 in 2010 to more than 520 in 2011, which corresponds to a 26% increase in their accident rate."

Bicing cyclist killed by truck on cycle-lane

2012-01-03T14:54:00.001+01:00

Via el pais: "Muere una ciclista en Barcelona arrollada por un camión"

The cyclist was using bicing on the cycle-lane on C/Diputació. The truck driver turned right crossing the lane and hitting the bicing user. The 49 year old woman was killed instantly.

More coverage:

bicing will open two hours longer on weekdays

2011-12-29T15:52:00.000+01:00

via abc.es: Bicing amplía el horario nocturno tras cerrar el año con un 30% más de viajes :

"El servicio municipal de alquiler de bicicletas "Bicing" ampliará dos horas más el horario entre semana, hasta las 2 de la madrugada, después de cerrar 2011 con un aumento del 30 por ciento de los viajes, ha informado hoy el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona."

Some other interesting bits from the article:

Compared with 2010 data, this year there have been 30 percent more trips, so that a bike uses have increased from 11.1 to 14.6 million.
One measure is to introduce advertising on the bicycles, for which the City is already negotiating with some interested advertisers

The announcement of the change in hours is also available on the bicing website.

Bicing subscription increases to 40 Euro + 4 Euro Insurance

2011-12-15T09:36:00.002+01:00

via bcn.cat "Bicing will have a compulsory, 4-euro insurance policy":

"Bicing users will have to take out a mandatory 4-euro insurance policy that covers third-party claims, first-party damage and injury, and legal assistance. This is in addition to the rise in the Bicing charge from 35 to 40 euros announced among the new public-sector charges for 2012."

The article also points out that this will rise further in the future until the users are covering 40% of the cost of the service, with the current change they are now paying 25%.

The increase in costs is 15% excluding the insurance. At the same time the city managed to reduce the cost of bicing from 13850000 Euro by 350000 Euro, which is a decrease of 2%.

As I personally don't live in the bicing zone any more, I have to reconsider continuing with my subscription. I am going to continue using it next year, but there are is certainly a limit I am willing to pay per month.

I am also not happy with the compulsory insurance policy, unless the legal assistance will help me with ridiculous charges by the police. I fear this is just money going to the insurance company without any benefits to the user.

More information about the change also on bicing.cat.

There are now as many people using bicycles as the Rodalies network

2011-11-22T09:35:00.001+01:00

Via lavanguardia.com and elpais.com:

"Unas 450.000 catalanes utilizan a diario o casi a diario la bicicleta. En el año 2006 lo hacían poco más de la mitad, unas 246.000 personas. Es un incremento muy importante en el uso frecuente de la bicicleta. En este momento ya hay tantos usuarios diarios de este medio de transporte como usuarios de la red de Rodalies, indicó ayer el director general de Territori i Mobilitat de la Generalitat, Ricard Font."

Some numbers:

450.000 use a bicycle each day
1,4 mill. use a bicycle once a week
2,5 mill. use a bicycle sometimes
3,5 mill. own a bicycle

Copenhagenize Index 2011: Barcelona on third place

2011-09-21T10:12:00.001+02:00

Barcelona makes third on the Copenhagenize Index of bicycle friendly cities ( http://www.copenhagenize.eu/index/ ). Only Amsterdam and Copenhagen rank higher.

Quote: "There were no bicycles in Barcelona a mere five years ago and now the city puts many Emerging Bicycle Cities to shame with their excellent efforts bringing the bicycle back to the urban landscape and marketing it positively."

Cycling Dope: Counting Cyclists in Barcelona

2011-08-09T08:58:00.001+02:00

from Cycling Dope: Counting Cyclists in Barcelona:

"Not bad at all. A Bicycle Counter in Barcelona, on Passeig de Sant Joan. We pass it every day on the way to the beach. It's the busiest bicycle lane in the city but it's slow these days with everyone on holiday." continue on Cycling Dope ...

Bicing Spider: bicycle sharing data visualization (Beta)

2011-04-07T12:02:00.000+02:00

Check out Bicing Spider: bicycle sharing data visualization (Beta) , a bicing visualization too for OS X.

Bicing Spider: bicycle sharing data visualization from JP Carrascal on Vimeo.

From the site: "This app will load a (static Google) map of Barcelona and will superimpose a visualization of the current state of the bicing stations near the cursor. Every station is represented with a color-coded circle: the radius of the circle is inversely proportional to the distance from the cursor position (the closer, the bigger), and its color represents the amount of bikes available. If green, the station is full of bikes. If red, there are no bikes available. Possible tones in-between will give an idea of the amount of bikes."

Winners of the Bicing Photo Competion

2011-04-04T20:41:00.001+02:00

The bicing story by MikeRubbo on YouTube

2011-03-11T22:55:00.000+01:00

bcn.cat: Barcelona is the first Spanish city to install traffic lights for bike

2011-02-25T17:05:00.000+01:00

bcn.cat reports:

The City Council is installing specific traffic lights for bikes in order to improve the safety of cyclists. These are smaller, lower and make use of LED technology.

Now people just learn to stop at red lights.

Situp-cycle.com: "Toss the Albatross: Bike share needs helmet choice"

2011-01-18T13:57:00.000+01:00

Good article on Situp-cycle.com: "Toss the Albatross: Bike share needs helmet choice" about how the helmet requirement holds back the bike sharing scheme in Melbourne. With an video report from a similar sized scheme in Dublin.

I am pretty sure that bicing wouldn't be the success that it is if helmets were compulsory.

Bicing tarifs increase by 15%

2010-12-21T10:23:00.002+01:00

via adn.es "La tarifa anual del Bicing se encarecerá un 15% en 2011":

~~Monthly~~Annual charge: 29.66 Euro + IVA
30 minute charge + 18%
penalties: +16%

The DGDW Blog: How Green is Bike Sharing?

2010-12-09T22:06:00.000+01:00

The DGDW Blog: How Green is Bike Sharing? :

A knee-jerk analysis would say yes – you are exchanging a CO2 free bike for gas guzzler – therefore, it has be greener from a carbon emissions point of view. However, based on the city government’s numbers, few Bicing members are actually switching their car for a bicycle – in most cases they would of been just taking other forms of public transportation or walking, which means negligible carbon savings.

Suprageography: Bikes, Strikes, Snow and Ice

2010-12-02T15:32:00.002+01:00

Suprageography: has a nice graph about the effects of Bikes, Strikes, Snow and Ice on a public bike rental scheme.

Münchenierung: "Perspective of cycling as barrier or facilitator"

2010-10-24T12:36:00.000+02:00

Interesting article on Münchenierung: "Perspective of cycling as barrier or facilitator"

Interesting stuff in the 'upcoming section of the Academic Journal Transport Policy. A Australian study found qualitative evidence for the fact that the public perspective of cycling can be an important barrier or facilitator on the road towards more urban cycling in cities.

and

One example is Barcelona, where due to the Bicing plan, suddenly massive amounts of cycling Catalonians were on the streets, reinforcing the claim for more and safer infrastructure (even the car lobby wanted the critical mass of cyclists of their roads!).

new real time bicing map

2010-10-21T21:30:00.000+02:00

Check out this new map http://oobrien.com/vis/bikes/?city=barcelona , it includes animation of the last 48 hours and bike sharing information from other cities.

It also uses openstreetmap, which is nice.

via streetsblog

El Periodico: BCN insiste en multar a ciclistas infractores con retirada de puntos

2010-09-18T09:08:00.000+02:00

I am all for enforcing driving laws, but this seems a bit harsh. I also wonder when they are going to start enforcing the speed and stop lights laws in Barcelona for cars and motorcycles. Every few weeks I see an accident involving scooter riders who jumped the lights.
I guess bicing riders are easier to catch though, maybe they will start to go after jay walking next.

El Periodico: BCN insiste en multar a ciclistas infractores con retirada de puntos:

The municipality of Barcelona is confirming their requests for sanction withdrawal of driving license points for cyclists offenders. The mayor has denied the appeal of Cristina Cuní, Bicing user who drove against the traffic direction on a street near Palau Reial, and asked that they not be penalized in this way because she still has no driver's license. The municipality does not accept the request of the young to reconsider the high financial penalty of 500 Euro.

Pedal Power: The World’s Five Bike-Friendliest Cities - Tonic

2010-09-03T17:13:00.000+02:00

Pedal Power: The World’s Five Bike-Friendliest Cities - Tonic: "4. Barcelona, Spain: Take a Bike, Leave a Bike General population: 1.6 million Biking population: More than 30,000 Barcelonese commute by bicycle."

TreeHugger: When Bike Sharing Falters (and Why We Can't Let It)

2010-09-02T15:24:00.001+02:00

TreeHugger examines the drop of bicing usage in the last year. Some interesting statistics in that article. TreeHugger: When Bike Sharing Falters (and Why We Can't Let It):

Consider the statistics. While in 2009, Barcelona added 10% more kilometers to its bike paths, trips by bike dropped 5.6% percent from 2008's "high" of 1.39 to just above 1%.

How IT Can Help the World Go Oil-Free | Greenpeace International

2010-08-25T22:31:00.000+02:00

How IT Can Help the World Go Oil-Free | Greenpeace International:

Barcelona’s popular Bicing service was recently enhanced by the addition of an iPhone app, which uses GPS to pinpoint the user’s location and help them find a convenient bike station for pick-up or drop-off, saving time on both ends. The app also displays Google Maps with interactive navigation. In the first two months alone, the program registered over 30,000 users.

El área metropolitana acumula unidades robadas al Bicing - Barcelona - El Periódico

2010-08-20T08:20:00.000+02:00

El área metropolitana acumula unidades robadas al Bicing - Barcelona - El Periódico:

half of the 6000 bikes have been stolen at least once
200 bikes show up in Sant Adrià del Besòs every month

The bicing system upgrade didn't go as well as hoped...

2010-08-11T10:29:00.000+02:00

Yesterday bicing tried to upgrade the computer system of the stations and the website, but had to revert to the old version after discovering problems. Annoying as this is, it does not really surprise anyone dealing with computers. The news sites see it as a bigger problem though:

El Pais: El fiasco del nuevo Bicing
El Periodico: El Bicing vuelve a funcionar en todas las estaciones pero con el sistema antiguo
Bicing statement: Restablecimiento Del Servicio.

While they are upgrading, I have a wishlist:

RSS feed for their bicing news
API to access the station data (current and historical)
Bring the English version back
Better and faster station map on their website, should include bicycle lanes too

Well, I can dream.