In 2009 it was tried but no one showed up to the public tender because the experience in Barcelona was not very promising then. In 2018, an outpost was perpetrated that serves little as a reference. Now, in December 2021, things take shape again with the tender for the implementation, maintenance and management service of the metropolitan public bicycle service from Barcelona. Will be 2,227 bikes at 202 stations spread over 15 municipalities. The Catalan capital is on the sidelines.
The estimated value of the contract is just over 60 million euros, and the duration is eight years and six months, one and a half below what is established in the Bicing contract in Barcelona, first with Clear Channel and now with Pedalem Barcelona, a company that has its roots in Ferrovial and PBSC. The applicants can submit their offers until nine in the morning of February 16, 2022, at which time the contracting company, Mobility Projects and Services, dependent on Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona, will start the long adjudication process (the name of the winner should be known in June) and formalization of the project. If everything goes as planned, by the autumn of next year it should be operational in some cities, and in the first quarter of 2023, always according to the plans of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, it should be fully operational.
The public company that functions as the umbrella for the project was founded in 2004 and is in charge of managing the Montjuïc Funicular. It is one of the strategic bets future of TMB, which beyond the bus and the metro, already announced months ago its intention to enter other shared means of transport. This was announced by Rosa Alarcón one day before leaving office Councilor for Mobility and president of TMB, a position that was also assumed by the socialist mayor Laia Bonet. Thus, the shared bicycle would be the outpost of this new philosophy of public transport that will compete with the operators but it remains to be seen how it affects the bus and metro network itself, since at the moment, most of those who go by bike or scooter come from collective transport.
This TMB strategic plan for 2025 also sets the objective of increasing bus and metro use by 10%, which would save the metropolitan area the emission of about 17,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Also with the better efficiency of the metro system, it is planned to reduce energy consumption by 6%, in addition to achieving full accessibility throughout the metro network in 2024, the year that will mark 100 years since the opening of the subway in Barcelona.
Intermodality
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The main stumbling block of the new project is that bicycles, unless the same company that manages Bicing enters the contest, will not be compatible with those that circulate in Barcelona. They are not expected to enter the Catalan capital because it is not one of the 15 municipalities (there are no Bicibox, secure parking on public roads), but the systems intermodality, that is, that it is possible to go from the metropolitan to the local with the maximum possible ease, would give more wings if possible to cyclist mobility. At the moment, the cities registered in the plan are the following:
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Hospitalet de Llobregat —– 370 bikes in 31 stations
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Badalona —– 275 bikes in 25 stations
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Cornellà de Llobregat —- 180 bikes in 18 stations
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Santa Coloma de Gramenet —– 180 bikes in 15 stations
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El Prat de Llobregat —- 150 bikes in 14 stations
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Esplugues de Llobregat —– 110 bikes in 11 stations
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Sant Feliu de Llobregat —– 132 bikes in 12 stations
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Sant Adrià de Besòs —– 100 bikes in 9 stations
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Sant Joan Despí —– 100 bikes in 9 stations
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Sant Just Desvern —– 70 bikes in 6 stations
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Molins de Rei —– 60 bikes in 6 stations
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Sant Boi de Llobregat —– 100 bikes in 10 stations
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Viladecans —– 150 bikes in 13 stations
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Gavà —– 100 bikes in 10 stations
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Castelldefels —– 150 bikes in 13 stations
Reference-www.elperiodico.com