Friday, February 3, 2012

Robust bike sharing in Spain

I was in Catalonia traveling by train north from Barcelona out on a small mountain bike adventure in the Pyrenees. I decided to venture off course and explore a small town on the line, and as I left the station I noticed an unprecedented bike sharing program. The bikes were incredible robust, abandoning the customary chain for a single drift-shaft. I had been in several other large cities and I recall the difficulty of their bike sharing program - Paris' payment system was incomprehensible and included subscription fees, Cophenhagen's bikes were always absent, Roma's (I think it was) was out-of-service.

Are are many possible show stoppers but maintenance is critical, without a reliable system the program will quickly fall out of favor.

Check out the bikes I saw in Catalonia: http://www.urbikes.com/

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