Madrid makes its city bikes free to use till 31 July

The aim is to encourage commuters to discover this mode of transportation, together with its benefits

It looks like free mobility is moving from the inter-city to the city scope in Spain, a country that has made headlines lately with the provision of this social benefit to commuters by making long-distance buses and trains cost-less to use. And now, Madrid has just announced that it will make use of its BiciMad city bikes free of charge as well – at least until 31 July.

The provision of the free service will begin on 7 March with the goal of encouraging Madrileños, who are known to be more of car-admiring people, to finally fall in love with cycling. This is a pioneering step and one that authorities believe will be welcomed and appreciated by the residents.

Revamped and improved urban bike network

Plus, the local officials do have ample reasons to be proud and to be eager to promote public bike services in the Spanish capital. After all, at the end of last year, they pushed ahead with renewing and expanding the BiciMad network as a way of making it a truly viable alternative to other modes of transport. The system and the bikes were modernized and the network now reaches all the neighbourhoods.

The new model of bicycles, more manageable, ergonomic and robust and with a design focused on improving the user experience, will be gradually incorporated into the service, coexisting with the previous model over the next five months. This transition period is exactly the time when the authorities would like to encourage residents to discover the new bikes and what they can offer, all without paying anything to use them.

In a way, all the city residents will become a test market for the new two-wheelers and the service.

To guarantee the availability of bicycles for all users, a bicycle will not be available for more than 30 continuous minutes. In other words, all the trips that are necessary per day can be made, but at the end of the journeys, the vehicles will have to be left at the bases. During this period, new subscriptions and their renewals will be completely free.