Barcelona metropolitan area to get a public bike service

The authorities are planning to expand the current idea of urban public transport

Micromobility vehicles have been an increasingly common option that is available to residents of cities in Europe. Yet, scooters and bicycles largely belong to a domain that is separate from the public transit network of a municipality. That will not be the case anymore for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), whose Council approved a decision on 27 July to introduce a public bicycle service. AMB will be the owner of this new service and TMB, the public transport operator of the Catalonian capital, will be in charge of managing it.

Seamless integration between different modes of public transit

Apart from being a new mobility offer and an alternative for the metropolis of Barcelona and its nearby satellite cities, ​​the service comes with the aim of expanding the coverage of public transport networks and creating complimentary public transport addition. With this integration, the AMB gives a new impetus to the intermodality between the bike and public transport, as had been set out in the Urban Mobility Metropolitan Plan 2019-2024.

"The experience that e-Bicibox has brought us over the last two years at the AMB has allowed us to go one step further and evolve, propose and create a new, wider, more powerful and ambitious metropolitan public bicycle service," explained the Vice President of Mobility, Transport and Sustainability of the AMB, Antoni Poveda. 

What he is referring to is the e-Bicibox service, which was introduced in the metropolis to promote the use of electric bicycles and the wider acceptance of this sustainable mode of mobility. These biкеs can be used with a monthly pass and found at specific stations – similar to what one is used to with public transport services.

After this summer, the AMB will approve the standard agreement to make effective the participation of the city councils in the new metropolitan public bike service. The agreement must be signed individually by the AMB and each municipality.

The aim of the metropolitan body is for this new service to start operating, in a first phase, between September 2022 and the end of that year.

During that phase, the service will have 2,000 bicycles and 200 stations, distributed in 15 municipalities in the metropolis. More specifically, it will be available in: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, ​​Cornellà de Llobregat, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, El Prat de Llobregat, Esplugues de Llobregat, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Sant Joan Despí, Sant Just Desvern, Molins de Rei, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Viladecans, Gavà and Castelldefels.