Traveling around the Ciudad Condal via bicycle is becoming a more and more common way to get around the city, and as its popularity has rise different biking services have popped up to meet the demand. One common biking service is bike rentals, where anyone who wants to can rent a bike for any period of time and drop it off at one of the bike stations around the city, and those who live in Barcelona know that Bicing is the city’s main bike rental service. Lately, however, Bicing has undergone some changes to its services and operations, which is why today in this article from ShBarcelona we’ll be filling you in the changes you need to know about and the new options being offered. Listen up!
Related article: Move around Barcelona with Bicing!
Photo by Maber via VisualHunt
Bicing is ultimately an urban transport service with stations set up all around the metropolitan area of Barcelona, that offers bikes to be taken and dropped off by citizens. This essential function of Bicing has not changed with these recent updates, but there are new features to the service that are important for users to familiarize themselves with. As you know, Bicing is composed of a number of stations around the city where you can use your membership card to rent bicycles, which can be obtained on the Bicing webpage with different costs depending on the level of accessibility you want. After use, bikes must be parked correctly at a designated Bicing stop, and higher rates will apply if you have a bike for more than the initial half hour provided by the service. If 24 hours pass and you still haven’t returned your bike to a station, you’ll be charged with another penalty fee. Overall, these basic operations are staying the same, but there are certain details regarding the length of time you can rent out a bike that have changed.
Related article: Pros and cons of Bicing
Photo by Bradley Schroeder via VisualHunt
Firstly, Bicing has raised the number of usage hours permitted for customers. You are now allowed to use a Bicing bike 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as opposed to the more restrictive guidelines in place beforehand. There is a service line that can be contacted in case of any problems at 937078900. Another new feature is the offering of electric bikes to the fleet, in addition to the 6000 manual models that currently exist in the city. Recently, Bicing has added 1000 electric bikes to their fleet, but this number is likely to grow considering the number of eager users. The number of bike parking stations in the city has also grown – there are currently 425 stations, but the company is planning to add even more in the year ahead. You can view the available stations in the city here to see which one is closest to you. Bicing has also improved their app where you can request a bike, request extra time for your bike checkout and compare the state of the bikes that you have returned. Access to services have also been expanded, so you can receive and return a bike through smartphones with NFC technology. When it comes to membership fees, you can choose a flat rate payment, ideal for those who use the service regularly, as well as options for occasional use and for infrequent use. Lastly, in order to optimize the service and make it more environmentally friendly, all vehicles related to the maintenance and upkeep of bike and stations will be electric.
There are a few other things that are important to keep in mind: firstly, the parking stations will be gradually modified to adapt to the new system of bike returns and parking through the app or NFC phones. For this reason, during the transition period of updating parking stations, bikes from the old stations can only be parked at the older models, and the same is true for the newer models with the new stations. You can read more about this process here. In addition, during this time the private user section on the Bicing website will be down, and customer service matters will need to be addressed through the customer service line. If you want to talk to someone in person to address questions or concerns related to these Bicing changes, you can go to calle Calabria 66 where Bicing’s new Customer Service Office is now located. The old office in Plaza Pi i Sunyer will also remain open until the end of the transition period of updating stations.
Do you use Bicing to make your way through the Ciudad Condal?
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