Barcelona, Catalonia, will remove all licences for private shared bicycle companies next year, Mayor Jaume Collboni has said. He said the city wants to end the problems linked to the service and described the current situation as a mess.
Speaking to Catalunya Ràdio, Collboni said there had been 5,000 sanctions since January last year for a fleet of 3,500 bikes. He said the figures showed widespread misuse, with riders using bikes where they should not and leaving them parked incorrectly after use.
The city council now plans to focus on strengthening Bicing, Barcelona’s municipal bike-sharing service. Collboni said the government would soon announce an expansion of the scheme, which currently has 8,000 bicycles and 75 stations.
Bicing already has nearly 170,000 subscribers in the city, which the mayor said amounts to about 10% of Barcelona residents. The city also has local alternatives that rent bicycles from their own premises.
For more Catalonia-wide local news, see our news page. You can also check the official Bicing service and the Barcelona City Council website for updates.