The government of Barcelona recently announced the Pedalem Barcelona project, which already has been labeled “an ambitious initiative” by the mass media sources. As a part of this project, the city plans to update the assortment of available bikes, create a proper mobile app, and address the current problem of bicycle parking spaces.
To rectify parking issues, the project developers plan to consult evidence from the bike-sharing services in Seattle, where fixed parking lots eventually were eliminated. In Seattle, bicycle renters can leave the bike in any location that works best for them and “report” the location via a mobile app that uses geo-location. The results were rather astonishing, yet quite logical, in that the bikes were concentrated mainly in places frequently visited by bike service users – offices, universities, and schools. Bike parking lots previously occupied space that could potentially be used by pedestrians and instead were perceived as annoying elements of the urban landscape. As a result of the new system, the bike lots have been eliminated entirely.
The bike rental service, Bicing, has existed in Barcelona since 2007. Throughout this time period, the public increasingly has been invested in modernizing the bicycle service to make it more efficient and continue its tremendous popularity.