¿Que Es Bicing?

Due to the local media frenzy (Flagpole article and Athens Banner-Herald article) surrounding my recent announcement, you may already be aware of my upcoming move to Barcelona, Spain. I visited the city recently and was awestruck by its natural and architectural beauty, its relative affordability and the residents’ widespread support and passion for music and the arts. One of the determining factors in making the move to Barcelona is the city’s fantastic public transportation system, which includes extensive subway, tram and bus lines. Particularly impressive is the city’s “Bicing” initiative, a low-cost public bicycle rental program which allows residents to “check-out” and use well-maintained bikes.

How exactly does it work?

For 24 euros (around $38) per year, Barcelona residents can purchase a Bicing card, which allows them to access one of 6,000 bikes at any of the 400 stations which are situated 300-400 meters apart from one another. Bicing stations cover over 70 percent of the city and many of the stations are located near metro and bus stops to encourage intermodal transportation.

To participate in the program, users simply swipe their Bicing card, which is connected to their bank account (to avoid theft and damage), grab a bike, ride where they need to go, and lock it into place at another station. The first half hour is free and each additional half hour is .30 euro. The program is designed for short-distance travel, so the usage limit is two hours. If a user keeps the bike for longer than two hours, he or she will be charged an additional 3 euros per hour. The bikes are available for use from 5 a.m.-midnight, Sunday through Thursday, and 24 hours a day on weekends.

What are the benefits?

The benefits of the Bicing program are clear—low-cost, emissions-free public transport that helps reduce traffic on roads. The public transportation system in Barcelona is great, but subways and buses are far more expensive than a Bicing membership and are often very crowded. There are also obvious health benefits to riding a bike vs. sitting or standing in a car or subway. Beyond the tangible benefits, riding a bike is fun. Bikes give riders the freedom to go where they want when they want, without worrying about traffic jams, expensive mechanical repairs, paying artificially high gas prices, etc.

Do people use it?

In early 2007, Barcelona joined Toulouse, Lyon, Oslo, Stockholm, Vienna and Brussels on the list of cities that offer a public bicycle rental system. Six months into the program, there were over 90,000 registered users and each bike was being used an average of 10-15 times per day. The rapid increase in the number of bikes—from 100 in March 2007 to 6,000 in June 2008—indicates that people are making use of the program.

Could a similar program work in Athens?

Biking in Athens is a big deal. The town hosts the popular Twilight Criterium bicycle race every year and is home to the Oconee River Greenway bike and pedestrian path and a number of great bike shops. Athens even has its own alternative transportation board called Bike Athens. Combine Athens residents’ affinity for biking with the fact that thousands of new students arrive in Athens each year, many of whom do not own a car, and one can easily make the case that public bikes would be extensively utilized.

Not only would a low-cost public bike rental program help ease the downtown parking situation, but it would be a great investment in the health of the community. An “ATHBike” program would promote physical exercise and help reduce emissions and congestion by taking vehicles off the road. The program would have to be rolled out in stages to be successful, focusing first on installing stations downtown and expanding outward as appropriate.

It’s likely that many Athens residents who currently own a bike but live outside of the city center would make use of such a program. For instance, someone who lives in the Forest Hills neighborhood off Oglethorpe may not want to bike downtown, especially if they don’t want to show up to work drenched in sweat. But once they’re downtown, a bike ride from the Classic Center to the Bottleworks building would make sense.

A bike rental program in Athens may also move us closer to changing the law that prohibits bike riding on sidewalks within the downtown tax district—a law which I find completely devoid of any logical foundation….but I’ll save that for another post.

Question for readers:

What locations would make sense for the initial phase of an Athens public bike program?

What, if any besides cost, would be the downsides to such a program?