Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The AMB presented its policy and metropolitan strategies to promote riding bicycles at the first International Meeting of Public Bicycle Systems, held in Medellin (Colombia) on 6 and 7 October.

Bicivia, Bicibox and Bicing are the three core areas on which AMB sustainable mobility strategy to promote bicycle riding is based. Only in Barcelona, over 145,000 bicycle journeys were made in 2015, of which 35,000 (some 24%) were on Bicing, the city's public bicycle system. Bicivia are the bicycle lanes that connect economic hubs and activity areas. Bicibox lets bikes be parked safely at 130 points in the metropolitan area. And Bicing, with 95,000 members, complements conventional public transport at a reduced cost, representing almost a quarter of cyclists' travel in the city of Barcelona. Their electric model is currently in a test phase.

Cities with experience in sustainable mobility, such as Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires and Mexico City, and metropolitan administrations like AMB were able to exchange experiences at the meeting, along with the world's five main bike and infrastructure suppliers (Germany, France, Canada, United States and Spain) and the largest operators of public bicycle systems from 40 world cities.

Public and private organisations debated institutional, technological and management challenges that consolidation and expansion of public bicycle systems raise in city planning. The meeting was also held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of EnCicla, thepublic bicycle service for the Metropolitan area of Valle de Aburrá, in Colombia. Public bicycle systems are already part of integrated public transport systems that make cities more sustainable for living.

AMB's participation is framed within the agreement that the metropolitan administration has with the metropolitan area of Valle de Aburrá and Medellin.