Almeria City to roll out public bicycle system

ALMERIA is finally jumping on the biking bandwagon.

The council will follow examples set by Murcia, Malaga and Madrid by installing hundreds of public bicycles at key points across the city.

The new scheme involves 400 bikes scattered around 61 locations which can be accessed by a one-off card payment, or by paying €40 for an annual pass.

With the pass users can ride 30 minutes for free, allowing them to hop on, ride to a market, and hop off again at the nearest bike station.

On a pay-as-you-go basis bikes will cost just €1 for a half hour ride, with a €10 maximum fee for 24 hours use.

The total investment is €600,000, money that mayor Pacheco expects to be well worth the reduction in pollution and improvement of public health.

City officials conducted a major survey to ensure that the green scheme was popular with residents.

They found that 48 per cent said they were ‘likely’ to use it, while 16 per cent would definitely take part.

The most conservative estimate predicts that between 32-35,000 people will use the bike fleet often.

Experiments in Sevilla and Malaga found that many people who start using the public bikes soon decide to buy their own and take up cycling full time.

Bikes will be available for hire 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.