Friday 26 December 2008

"Bicing" de Granollers


"Bicing" de Granollers
Originally uploaded by Gatxan
That is not too far from Barcelona. The bikes are quite interesting, they don't seem to use a chain and look very heavy. They also look more expensive, lets see how long they last.

Thursday 25 December 2008

Barcelona - La fiebre del Bicing se enfría en Barcelona - ADN.es

Barcelona - La fiebre del Bicing se enfría en Barcelona - ADN.es: "El Bicing ya es el segundo club con más socios de Cataluña. Ayer ya tenía 181.000, superando al Barça y sólo por detrás del RACC."

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Cyclean - No es un adorno. Si Tocas, Cyclean

Cyclean - No es un adorno. Si Tocas, Cyclean I saw some girls demonstrating this on Rambla de Catalunya. I wonder who makes up businesses like this. If you have a problem with dirty handlebars of public bicycles, would it not be much easier to wear gloves instead of these handlebar condoms?

Tuesday 23 December 2008

Cada vehículo del Bicing pasa 2 veces al mes por el taller para reparar averías | El Periódico de Catalunya | Barcelona

Cada vehículo del Bicing pasa 2 veces al mes por el taller para reparar averías | El Periódico de Catalunya | Barcelona: "Sus responsables admiten que siguen aprendiendo a diario de los fallos, pero jamás se hubieran imaginar que ya llevarían tras 19 meses 15,6 millones de usos. Aun ahora, en invierno, 36.000 personas levantan cada día una bici de las barras que las retienen."

Monday 22 December 2008

El Bicing estrena nuevas instalaciones en Glòries

El Bicing estrena nuevas instalaciones en Glòries: "El Bicing dispone desde este lunes, 22 de diciembre, de unas nuevas instalaciones en la calle Castilla, al lado de la plaza de les Glòries, con unos 1.200 m2 repartidos entre talleres y oficinas."

El Bicing repara unas 11.000 bicicletas cada mes en Barcelona - 20minutos.es

El Bicing repara unas 11.000 bicicletas cada mes en Barcelona - 20minutos.es: "El servicio del Bicing repara unas 400 bicicletas diarias y 11.000 mensuales en los dos centros que tiene en la ciudad. El parque m�vil del Bicing es de unas 6.000 bicicletas, eso significa que cada una se repara dos veces al mes, seg�n un c�lculo aproximado realizado por los responsables del servicio."

Friday 19 December 2008

Bike-Powered Christmas Tree In Barcelona | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Bike-Powered Christmas Tree In Barcelona | Gadget Lab from Wired.com: "The scheme is also something of a publicity stunt for Bicing, the cheap point-to-point bike service we covered early last year. The public service provides the bikes that are used in the setup, thankfully anchored so that the usual wobbly oldsters and young yahooos who plague the service are kept out of danger (the kids seem to believe that the bell is needed to make the bikes go)."

Sunday 14 December 2008

new bicingwatch features

There is a map of all stations available on api.bicingwatch.com. You can also see the same map on google. Currently there is no indication of the current state of a station, but you can see that on the bicing.com map anyway.

Saturday 13 December 2008

some pictures

Before Another new bicycle lane, but the rubber bumpers which are used as separation to the car lanes are already broken. The city keeps fixing them, but it just takes two days for them breaking up again. You can have a look on google street view how the street looked before. After
Picture from the recent bicing census, they used stickers to mark the bikes which were already counted. I don't thing the result was published anywhere, but it would be very interesting to look at. With this they also tried to find out how many bikes are broken. I added a new feature to api.bicingwatch.com to try to find out how many bikes & anchors are broken at a station, you can see an example here, it is the black line in the "Today" graph.
Some of the bikes really do fall apart. This one doesn't even look so old.

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Bicing bike stations give warning if the bike has not been properly locked in the parking bay -- bcn.es

Bicing bike stations give warning if the bike has not been properly locked in the parking bay: "Bicing users now have more security when returning bikes to the bike stations, with this confirmation as to whether the bike has been parked correctly. The user only needs to put the card in the station reader and a message will appear on the screen. If it has not been parked correctly, the message gives the phone number to contact for incidents, 900 31 55 31."

Los usuarios del Bicing de Barcelona pueden obtener un recibo electrónico tras devolver la bicicleta a la estación. europapress.es

Los usuarios del Bicing de Barcelona pueden obtener un recibo electrónico tras devolver la bicicleta a la estación. europapress.es: "Los usuarios del servicio público de bicicletas de Barcelona, el Bicing, pueden recibir a partir de ahora un recibo electrónico como comprovante de que han dejado la bicicleta correctamente anclada en la estación, siempre que lo soliciten pasando la tarjeta por el lector al devolver la bicicleta, según explicó hoy el concejal de Movilidad, Francesc Narváez."

Problemas Bicing Blog

Problemas Bicing a blog just about problems with bicing.

Lo que no nos quieren contar de la bicicleta pública | soitu.es

Another bicing critique: Lo que no nos quieren contar de la bicicleta pública | soitu.es: "Nadie parece cuestionar el presunto éxito de las bicicletas públicas en España. La ciudad que más rendimiento mediático y político está sacando de este servicio es Barcelona, y parece razonable centrar este análisis en su sistema de bicicletas públicas, aunque sólo sea para que no se repitan los errores."

Breaks on? Seguro? Soma in Kinderland

Breaks on? Seguro?  Soma in Kinderland: "It is a hell of a good a idea! But Bicing, Barcelona’s infamous bike sharing system, is going through a harsh period."

Thursday 4 December 2008

Buenpas Bicing (the Return) at Implosiones

Some nice bicing pictures: Buenpas Bicing (the Return) at Implosiones: "Siguiendo con los buenos momentos que nos brinda la implantación del Bicing en el BuenPas, os traigo otro documento de las buenas maneras de los usuarios y los diversos usos que se les puede dar a algo tan simple como aparcar una bici."Some people have to remember that not all of bicings problems are bicings fault. Some of the users and people of Barcelona are the problem too.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

El fracaso en la gestión del Bicing. «

El fracaso en la gestión del Bicing. «: "Como usuario habitual de la bici en mi anterior y pequeña ciudad Gijón, o como ciudadano en general, cuando me vine a Barcelona valore muy positivamente el aparente y “ostentoso! esfuerzo que se supone, seria una revolución en la ciudad, que no en España, ya que por ejemplo en Gijón las habían instalado mucho antes: el Bicing…."

Saving the climate on two wheels | nattura.info

Saving the climate on two wheels | nattura.info: "The newest example of self-service bikes is found in Barcelona. In March 2007 the city of Barcelona in cooperation with the company Clear Channel put up the bike sharing system, “Bicing”, in a city that did not see many bicycles before. Bicing is a part of the company’s most sustainable products, SmartBike, which earlier were implemented in Rennes, France, as a solution to the problems related to traffic in the city. Bicing Barcelona has become a huge success with more than 100.000 subscribers within the first nine months and Barcelona’s City Council has defined it as one of the biggest successes of 2007. With more than 390 stations and thousand of bicycles, suddenly the easily recognizable red Bicing bicycles are everywhere in the centre."

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Londres se inspira en Barcelona para crear su propio 'Bicing'

Londres se inspira en Barcelona para crear su propio 'Bicing': "La empresa que gestiona el transporte público londinense lanzará en 2010 su servicio de préstamo de bicicletas con 6.000 vehículos y 400 estaciones y reconoce que la idea surgió al conocer el sistema catalán"

Sunday 30 November 2008

SmartBikes: a smart choice - Silver Chips Online

Opinions - Silver Chips Online: "In Barcelona, they call it 'Bicing.' In Paris, it's 'V�lib.' The wave of public bicycle sharing programs that has swept through Europe has finally arrived in the U.S., with a successful system implemented in Washington, D.C. as of August. Now, D.C. Councilwoman Valerie Ervin is proposing a similar pilot program for Montgomery County. The program is vital to the citizens in their efforts to conserve the environment, save money and reduce traffic."

Wednesday 26 November 2008

comments for stations are enabled now

You can now vent your anger or satisfaction on your favourite stations on the bicingwatch website. You can see an example here. I am using the disqus -- if it is good enough for ping.fm, then it is good enough for me.

Tuesday 25 November 2008

api.bicingwatch.com already broken

For some reason bicing.com decided that it would a good idea to make it harder to get the current state of the stations. The "localizaciones" page is now on a SSL page and I think they use the session to make sure that it is someone browsing the page. A pity really. UPDATE: that was not so bad, just SSL and user agent check. I still think they should provide a proper API with some kind of user agreement, so that you don't use it to make money or poll it every couple of seconds.

Saturday 22 November 2008

krakowski bicing


krakowski bicing
Originally uploaded by jjkason
That looks freezing, I am glad I am in Barcelona.

I think that is http://www.bikeone.pl/

Ibicing Iphone 3G - Entre Montañas

Bicing Barcelona – Ibicing Iphone 3G - Entre Montañas: "Así que la compañía Mi Mundo Iphone ha creado una aplicación para solucionarnos este pequeño problema: Ibicing." Ibicing Iphone 3g

new domain

Well, that took a while. But now the bicingwatch has its own domain: http://blog.bicingwatch.com/ I will use the domain for other stuff too. The first example is http://api.bicingwatch.com/ which is just a test area for some bicing statistic graphs and maps I am testing.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Barcelona elevará un 20% el precio de los abonos "bicing" - Expansión (update: make that 25%)

Barcelona elevará un 20% el precio de los abonos "bicing" - Expansión.com: Seems like we have top pay a little bit more for bicing next year. This is not really unexpected, the Metro prices are raised every year and bicing does need more money. UPDATE: bicing y robing note that it is going up to 25% which is also confirmed by El Periodico

Nou Bicing Widget! - Nigeka

Nou Bicing Widget! - Nigeka
A new version of the bicing widget, which introduces a new colour coding to show not only full and empty stations, but also the ones with "perfect" balance of bicycles.

Monday 17 November 2008

ibicing

ibicing is an application to find out the bicing station status with an iphone.
Here it comes the best application for one of the most popular public transport services in Barcelona: Bicing, the new unexpensive and sustainable public transport, with more than 200,000 users. Download ibicing and you'll never go to an empty station to grab a bike again. Are you riding near Sagrada Familia and you don't know where the closest Bicing station is? ibicing will locate the nearest station in just a couple of seconds. ibicing features include: - Real-time information about the bicing stations status - Search stations near a given address - Mark stations as your favorites - Show station location in Maps - Set search radius - Filter results by bikes/spaces availabilty If you have an iPhone, you'll sign up in Bicing service just to use this app. If you are a Bicing user you can't live without this app. ibicing is that kind of app that will make your friends buy an iPhone
get it here: iTunes Link produced by http://www.mimundoiphone.com/

Sunday 16 November 2008

El Bicing revisa las bicicletas y marca las que van bien | El Periódico de Catalunya | Barcelona

El Bicing revisa las bicicletas y marca las que van bien | El Periódico de Catalunya | Barcelona: "Las bicicletas del Bicing lucen desde esta semana un nuevo distintivo. Se trata de unas marcas de color verde y amarillo que han sido colocadas en el guardabarros de la rueda posterior de gran parte de los vehículos. No son unas señales reflectantes, sino un intento de la empresa concesionaria del servicio, Clear Channel, de hacer un recuento de su parque de bicicletas y, de paso, controlar cuáles han pasado en los últimos días por los talleres y cuáles no."
That is what I thought when I saw yellow and green stickers (I really need a new camera). It is a bit strange that bicing doesn't know how many bikes they have, with all of their computer systems and bicing cars and scooters driving around all day.
Another interesting thing in the article is the mentioned bicycle half life of one year. I wonder how this compares to other cities with the same bicycles like Washington, Stockholm or Perpignon.

Saturday 15 November 2008

Not quite Amsterdam yet ...


descontents
Originally uploaded by king nikochan
It seems like there are still some people who need to be convinced that cycle lanes are a good idea.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Expat in Barcelona: Two wheels good for Barcelona bikers - Telegraph

Expat in Barcelona: Two wheels good for Barcelona bikers - Telegraph: "Barcelona has decided to put its money where its wheels are. After two years of pussyfooting (or should that be pussypedalling?) around, mayor Jordi Hereu has stuck out his political neck by opening another bike-only lane on the city's main street, Comte d'Urgell. This means there are now 150km of lanes for Barcelona's cyclists, with another 50km planned by 2009."

bicing expands again


View Larger Map
  • Rocafort
  • Rocafort
  • Villarroel
  • Bruc
  • Pl. Jaume Sabartes
  • Consell de Cent
  • Bolívia
  • Llacuna
  • Avinguda Litoral

Sunday 9 November 2008

Bicycle-sharing mania takes hold in Europe - International Herald Tribune

Bicycle-sharing mania takes hold in Europe - International Herald Tribune: "Here in Barcelona, streets during rush hour are lined with commuters and errand-goers on the bright red bicycles of Bicing, the city's 18-month-old bike-sharing program. Bicing offers 6,000 bicycles from 375 stands scattered every few blocks; all the bikes seem to be in nearly constant motion."

Thursday 6 November 2008

41º23'N 2º10'E: carriles para el bicing

41º23'N 2º10'E: carriles para el bicing: "Los carriles para bicis están apareciendo por toda la ciudad, unas zonas más que otras, pero el caso es que la ciudad se ha tomado muy en serio eso de que la gente pueda ir en bici." BB reports about the new bike lanes which are appearing all over the city now. We got a new two lane bicycle lane being build next to the office at the moment. If this continues like this we will have as many cyclists as Amsterdam soon :-)

Wednesday 29 October 2008

The good thing about rain...

Nobody is using bicing in the rain. But I expect the stations to fail again if the rain continues.

Friday 24 October 2008

[0810.4187] Bicycle cycles and mobility patterns - Exploring and characterizing data from a community bicycle program

[0810.4187] Bicycle cycles and mobility patterns - Exploring and characterizing data from a community bicycle program: "This paper provides an analysis of human mobility data in an urban area using the amount of available bikes in the stations of the community bicycle program Bicing in Barcelona. The data was obtained by periodic mining of a KML-file accessible through the Bicing website. Although in principle very noisy, after some preprocessing and filtering steps the data allows to detect temporal patterns in mobility as well as identify residential, university, business and leisure areas of the city. The results lead to a proposal for an improvement of the bicing website, including a prediction of the number of available bikes in a certain station within the next minutes/hours. Furthermore a model for identifying the most probable routes between stations is briefly sketched."

Bicing Tracker


Bicing Tracker
Originally uploaded by protozoo
protozoo has some very cool images of a software to track bicing usage over time online.

Thursday 23 October 2008

Friday 17 October 2008

Restablecido el servicio de Bicing en el 95 por ciento de las estaciones. europapress.es

Restablecido el servicio de Bicing en el 95 por ciento de las estaciones. europapress.es: "El servicio público de bicicletas de Barcelona, el Bicing, quedó esta tarde restablecido en el 95 por ciento de las estaciones de la ciudad después de que desde alrededor de las 11.45 horas de hoy sus usuarios no pudieran cogerlas, pero sí devolverlas." Seems like bicing broke down for nearly five hours today. I blame it on the torrential rain today. They blame it on Movistar.

Thursday 16 October 2008

B de bicing, B de bingo | despiertos

B de bicing, B de bingo | despiertos: "Este blog se inició con un post sobre bicing. Y hoy toca otro. Situación: cada día salgo del trabajo y me dirijo a la estación de Sants, en Barcelona. Andando tengo entre 10 y 15 minutos, según el estado de ánimo y las prisas. En bici unos 5 minutos menos. El caso es que tengo 4 paradas del Bicing de camino (6 si contamos las 2 que están en la misma estación). ." A bicing user describes his experience with bicing and documents the lack of available bicycles on his way to work. Some stations are empty, some contain bikes which are unavailable and some contain bikes which are locked with chains. I guess we have all been there. I am usually pretty lucky with my way to work and just have to pass one or two empty stations.

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Sustainable transport is on the rise in Barcelona

Sustainable transport is on the rise in Barcelona: "According to Mr Nadal, the growth in public transport use is explained by the 'l'increase in the public transport available'. He pointed to the success of the public cycle hire scheme Bicing, the fact the Metro runs throughout Saturday night and trains are more frequent, plus the start of the tram system."

Thursday 9 October 2008

finally some new stations

El Periodico also states that there will be 80 more stations for 2009, which will bring us up to 480. Currently we are at 375, as some stations were not available during the last months.
View Larger Map
  • Erasme de Jane
  • Carrer de Sant Pau
  • Bruc
  • Sardenya
  • Recinte Parc de la Ciutadella

Friday 22 August 2008

taz.de - taz-Serie zu steigenden Energiepreisen: Nahverkehr auf zwei Rädern

The taz about bicing (in German): taz.de - taz-Serie zu steigenden Energiepreisen: Nahverkehr auf zwei Rädern: "taz-Serie zu steigenden Energiepreisen (IV): Die Stadtverwaltung von Barcelona bietet günstig Fahrräder zum Mieten an. Täglich nutzen 50.000 Menschen diese Möglichkeit. VON SVENJA BERGT"

Sunday 17 August 2008

bicing in disguise

I saw this at the Gracia festival. I really do wonder what the point of it is. It must be easier to just steal a normal bicycle. Or just buy a cheap one and save the money for saddle decoration and paint job. 
As this is was in Gracia it probably was some anti capitalist student who enjoys destroying other peoples property to demonstrate his superiority while complaining about the low quality of the bicing service.

Friday 1 August 2008

Revealing Paris Through Velib’ Data - Making sense of space

Revealing Paris Through Velib’ Data - Making sense of space: "A very interesting project by Fabien Girardin from the Interactive Technologies Group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona"

Thursday 31 July 2008

Thursday 24 July 2008

bicing.com map is broken

The map has been displaying the same information about the stations since 22.07.2008 09:30. This means that services like statistings , the various SMS services and my updates are broken too. Update: jg says: The information provided on bicing.com has actually been erroneous since around 03.07.2008. There have been a few updates once in a while, but the data has been mostly static.

Tuesday 15 July 2008

La crisis y el Bicing reducen los viajes en metro y autobús · ELPAÍS.com

La crisis y el Bicing reducen los viajes en metro y autobús · ELPAÍS.com: "Tanto TMB como la Generalitat se aferraron, además, a la implementación del Bicing para justificar el descenso de los transportes públicos tradicionales. 'Debemos mirar otros factores, por ejemplo el trasvase a otras formas de transporte como el Bicing', justificó Villalante. Unos 150.000 viajeros utilizan el servicio de préstamo de bicicletas."

Friday 4 July 2008

bicing spotting: #10005

The first bicing bicycles with numbers above 10000 show up. Today I saw #10005, which looked like a refurbished bike. With station numbers reaching 372 the second phase should be finished soon.

Friday 27 June 2008

stations from the sea to the hills


View Larger Map
  • Alt de Gironella
  • Passeig de Gràcia
  • Passeig de Gràcia
  • Méndez Núñez
  • Word Trade Center
  • Word Trade Center

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Spain: The Blog: One Year On!

Spain: The Blog: One Year On!: "I've written a bit about Bicing, which also celebrated it's first year anniversary recently. Well, today's El Pa�s newspaper ran an article about the service's increasing growing pains: El Bicing genera 600 reclamaciones diarias por mal funcionamiento. (Bicing receives 600 complaints a day about technical problems.)" The article has more statistics and information about bicing.

Wednesday 18 June 2008

a few more stations


View Larger Map
  • Riera Alta
  • Agustí Duran i Sanpere
  • Pl.Joaquim Xira i Palau
  • Pl. Sant Miquel
  • Gombau
  • Ramon Turró
  • Jaume Brossa

Tuesday 17 June 2008

El Bicing es queda curt en zones elevades i es col.lapsa al centre | El Peri�dico de Catalunya | Barcelona

El Bicing es queda curt en zones elevades i es col.lapsa al centre | El Peri�dico de Catalunya | Barcelona: "El Bicing es queda curt en zones elevades i es col.lapsa al centre 1. • Molts usuaris nom�s agafen les bicis de baixada i buiden les parades de Gr�cia, les Corts i l'Eixample 2. • L'aflu�ncia massiva a les �rees d'oci nocturn i les platges dificulta les entregues a Ciutat Vella"

Monday 9 June 2008

kalebeul : Fuck Bicing

kalebeul : Fuck Bicing: "Being Barcelona Council’s corporativist scheme to marginalise private bike ownership and bike shops"

Trevor complains -- as he does.

I have two bicycles besides using bicing. And with the experience I have with local bicycle shops in Barcelona, I wouldn't mind them marginalised a bit.

Now I'll swing my 'corporativist' behind onto a bicing bike and enjoy the ride -- as I do

La ciutat del bicing


La ciutat del bicing
Originally uploaded by Cyberian8
nice shot by Cyberian8

Friday 6 June 2008

And I Color Too: Bicing Usage Survey Now Live!

Jon about bicing and his survey:
And I Color Too: Bicing Usage Survey Now Live!: "As part of my ongoing research in 'green computing' I have been working on a project at Telef�nica Research on improving the Bicing system. As a first step in this direction, we have created a Bicing usage survey. Bicing is a shared biking system in Barcelona, Spain (think of it like a shared car system ala ZipCar). Citizens pay 24 Euros a year for the ability to use bikes parked around the city. There are a few really clever ideas that Bicing employs."

Barcelona bicing survey

jonfroehlich asked me to post this links to a survey regarding bicing. I am sure a lot of people want to leave their comments:
Call to All Bicing Users!

We are a small scientific group at Telefónica I+D working on “green computing” research. In one of our projects, we are studying Barcelona’s Bicing system. Our goal is to apply advanced concepts in computer science to improve the Bicing experience, so that, for example the bicycles are better distributed in the city. This project is just beginning and we wanted to involve the most important piece of the Bicing system: its users! Therefore, we have created an online survey to acquire feedback about your experience (positive and negative) with Bicing. The survey will only take about 5-10 minutes to fill out and is completely anonymous.

We look forward to your feedback!

English: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/jfroehli/56481

---

Llamada a todos los usuarios de bicing!

Somos un pequeño grupo científico de Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo trabajando en informatica ecológica y sostenible. En uno de nuestros proyectos, estamos estudiando el sistema Bicing en Barcelona. Nuestro objetivo es aplicar tecnicas de inteligencia artificial e informatica avanzada para mejorar el sistema Bicing y vuestra experiencia con el. Por ejemplo, uno de nuestros objetivos es conseguir que las bicicletas estén distribuidas de una forma más eficiente. Este es un proyecto nuevo y queremos involucrar a la parte más importante del sistema Bicing: sus usuarios!. Por ello, hemos creado una encuesta online para recoger vuestra opinión y experiencia de uso con Bicing. La encuesta solo os llevara entre 5 y 10 minutos y los datos son totalmente anónimos.

Contamos con vuestra colaboración.

Castellano: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/jfroehli/56868

---

Crida a tots els usuaris de bicing!

Som un petit grup científic de Telefònica Recerca i Desenvolupament treballant en computació ecològica i sostenible. En un dels nostres projectes estem estudiant el sistema Bicing de Barcelona. El nostre objectiu es aplicar conceptes de intel•ligencia artificial i recerca en informàtica per millorar el sistema Bicing. Per eixample, un dels nostres objectius es que les bicicletes estiguin distribuïdes d'una forma més eficient. Com que aquest projecte està començant volem involucrar la part més important del sistema Bicing: els seus usuaris!. Doncs, hem creat una enquesta online per recollir l'opinió de l’ús (positiva i negativa) de Bicing. Trigareu entre 5 i 10 minuts a realitzar l'enquesta, les dades son totalment anònimes.

Esperem la vostra col•laboració

Català: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/jfroehli/56870

Vermiste Bicing fietsen | Jasper : Barcelona

Vermiste Bicing fietsen | Jasper : Barcelona

Thursday 5 June 2008

first new stations in June


View Larger Map
  • Cavallers
  • Cavallers
  • Loreto
  • Vilamarí
  • Casanova
  • Paral.lel
  • Balcells
  • Nàpols
  • Carrer dels Enamorats
  • Rambla Prim

Tuesday 3 June 2008

A week for pedalling

A week for pedalling: "Free bike loan, bike checks, and initiation courses are some of the activities for Bicycle Week Whether you are used to cycling or want to start, from 2 to 8 June you have the chance to take part in the activities for Bicycle Week, promoted by different organisations and Barcelona City Council. For those who are not used to cycling or who don't have a bike, this week you can rent a bike, free, to cycle round the city, from 10am to 7pm. You can also sign up for an initiation course, taking place in Barceloneta park, but you must register in advance (biciescola@bacc.info). For regular bike users, you can have your bike checked for free and a breakfast, courtesy of BICIA'T, on Thursday 5 June, and you will receive a small cool bag."

Thursday 29 May 2008

Thursday 22 May 2008

bicing stations all over Barcelona


View Larger Map
  • Cardenal Reig
  • Sant Ramón Nonat
  • Avinguda de J.Foix
  • Via Augusta
  • Viladomat
  • Bailén
  • Pl. Ictíneo
  • Mare de Déu de Lorda
  • Plaça Baró de Viver

Tuesday 20 May 2008

El Bicing ha perdut 173 bicis per robatori o distracci�de l'usuari | El Peri�dico de Catalunya | Barcelona

El Bicing ha perdut 173 bicis per robatori o distracci�de l'usuari | El Peri�dico de Catalunya | Barcelona: "•�182 vehicles m�s van ser recuperats despr�s de la seva desaparici� •�Moltes m�quines han estat retirades en un any pel desgast de l'�s intensiu"

More cycle lanes in the city

More cycle lanes in the city: "New features include the introduction of a cycle lane in Carrer Urgell and two-way traffic on the Carrer Provenca cycle lane The work to expand the city’s cycle lane network will begin over the next two weeks. The plan for 2008 consists of adding 28 kilometres of cycle lanes to the 128 currently existing. This expansion is due to the increased use of bicycles in the city over the last year, which has risen 81%, as the Councillor for Mobility, Francesc Narvaez, explained."

BicinGO, troba estacions de bicing™

BicinGO, troba estacions de bicing™ New website to find available bikes near an address.

Sunday 11 May 2008

The Bike-sharing Blog: Updated Velib' Stats

The Bike-sharing Blog: Updated Velib' Stats: "The latest Velib' survey results are available and posted on the Velib' Website. Just in case you don't parlez Frandais, here's a summary: Trips to date: 20 million Average trips/day: 70,000"

Thursday 8 May 2008

thirteen new stations


View Larger Map
  • Munné
  • Canalejas
  • Amigó
  • Gleva
  • Cardener
  • Travessera de Gràcia
  • Seu del Districte (Nou Barris)
  • Guinardó
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • Campana de la Maquinista
  • Pl. Fra Juníper i Serra
  • Sant Adrià
  • Passeig Enric Sanchís

Wednesday 30 April 2008

last new stations in April


View Larger Map
  • Negrevernís
  • Caponata
  • Santa Amèlia
  • Passatge de Senillosa
  • Castellnou
  • Doctor Roux
  • Carrer de les Escoles Pies
  • Bigaí
  • Artesa de Segre
  • Castanyer
  • Santaló
  • Carrer de Pádua

Friday 25 April 2008

more stations

Post #100 !!!
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  • Radi
  • Jane Adams
  • Reina Victoria
  • Carrer de l'Energia
  • Vallmajor
  • Carrer de la Foneria
  • Pl. Teresa de Claramunt
  • Jardins de Can Ferrero
  • Mare de Déu dels Ports

Highest bike number seen: #8080

Monday 21 April 2008

some new stations


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  • Rambla del Brasil
  • Rambla del Brasil
  • Cáceres
  • Ronda del Guinardó
  • Ciutat d'Asuncion

Tuesday 15 April 2008

Las leyes de Murphy del Bicing | Aglarond Blog

Las leyes de Murphy del Bicing | Aglarond Blog: "1ª Ley General del Bicing En hora punta o en cualquier momento que tengas prisa, no habrá ninguna bicicleta en las paradas más cercanas a tu casa. Esta es la ley universal que se cumple más o menos a rajatabla y que marca a fuego este servicio. A partir de aquí, iban a venir toda una serie de corolarios a la misma… pero serían tantos que he decidido independizarlos."

Sunday 13 April 2008

John is nearly convinced

Inside Europe: Iberian Notes: "I have to admit that Barcelona's 'Bicing' scheme, despite its ridiculous pseudo-English name and my repeated predictions of total failure, is working out pretty well. They've got 130,000 people signed up, and you see people riding the bikes all over downtown. The service is currently being extended to my neighborhood, Gracia, and I guess I'm going to sign up, though I have a bike of my own. I'm still wondering how many inexperienced riders are going to get killed in Barcelona's hellacious traffic."
I guess you have to use it to really know how it changes the way you use and experience Barcelona.  

Statistings

Statistings provides a google map with better details than the bicing.com one. There is information about bicycle and parking space availability. For each station you can also get statistics of activity during the day.

Thursday 10 April 2008

ten new stations


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  • Pintor Ribalta
  • Josep Samitier
  • Jiménez Iglesias
  • Travessera de les Corts
  • Doctor Salvador Cardenal
  • Felipe de Paz
  • Tuset
  • Plaça Rovira i Trias
  • Montmany
  • Marie Curie

En Bicing que fa baixada! | El Senyor de les Muntanyes

En Bicing que fa baixada! | El Senyor de les Muntanyes: "El passat 8 d’abril em vaig entretenir a fer una captura de pantalla cada hora aproximadament del mapa de bicing.com. A més vaig comptar les estacions que apareixien en vermell al mapa, és a dir, que no tenien bicicletes disponibles. Tot i les limitacions del sistema d’estudi, que en cap cas vol ser exaustiu, en un primer anàlisi comprovem que Bicing té un 10 % d’estacions contínuament sense bicicletes." Alexis analyzes the state of bicing stations.

Tuesday 8 April 2008

bicing a les 9 del matí


bicing a les 9 del matí
Originally uploaded by Alexis Vizcaino
Alexis Vizaino has a nice series of pictures on flickr, which show the bicing station state during a day.

The Bike-sharing Blog: Rebirth of Bicycling in the U.S.

The Bike-sharing Blog: Rebirth of Bicycling in the U.S.: "The 10 SmartBike DC racks are popping up throughout the city with a soft launch expected in April (maybe Earth Day?) and the full launch in May. The stations are not powered yet, nor are bikes available. This, and the future of bicycling in the U.S., should all change in the next few weeks."
They seem to use the bicing bicycles, with just 10 stations in the beginning.

Thursday 3 April 2008

bicingTag

This site seems to been going since July 2007, but I just discovered it today. The site is about bicing spotting. Everyone can register and then post pictures of bicing bikes in use with the number visible. For every bicycle you post you get points and there are lists with the top posters. The site is done well and available in English, Spanish and Catalan. There don't seem to be many users though, which is a bit of a shame.

Saturday 29 March 2008

BiCiNgjust�cias, tu bolet�n informativo!

BiCiNgjust�cias, tu bolet�n informativo! 
more unhappy bicingers

new bikes (again)

Turns out that the 7337 bicycle I saw this week is one of the new bikes. They come with new lights. They are also using the normal brakes again on the front, because they can't use the drum brakes with the new dynamo. The pedals seem to be new too. I haven't seen a bicycle in the 6000 range yet, so it seems they have skipped some numbers. Here are some pictures.
this makes the highest number seen: #7372

pictures from the birthday party

El Bicing logra 130.000 abonados en su primer año de funcionamiento en Barcelona | El Periódico de Catalunya | Barcelona

El Bicing logra 130.000 abonados en su primer año de funcionamiento en Barcelona | El Periódico de Catalunya | Barcelona: "El servicio cuenta con 286 estaciones y más de 4.000 bicicletas con las que se hacen 30.000 viajes en días laborables y 20.000 en festivos"

Thursday 27 March 2008

7337

I just saw bike #7337, which seems wrong. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.
The bike looked funny too. It was very clean and looked new, but it had the old brakes and light fittings. The lights were replaced by new ones though, which looked like standard bicycle lights.
I just hope I have my camera with me the next time I see it.

new stations


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  • Diagonal
  • Rius i Taulet
  • Ronda Guinardo
  • Plaça dels Jardins d'Alfàbia
  • Onze de Setembre
  • Via Barcino
  • Via Barcino
  • Treball
  • Ciutat d'Asuncion
  • C/ de Taulat

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Aniversari Bicing


Aniversari Bicing
Originally uploaded by ericconca

bicing has its first birthday party this Saturday the 29th March. They are having a party at Moll de la Marina at 12:00

Wednesday 12 March 2008

I had another problem with a station (update)

This is the email I sent to bicing:
Hello, this evening I tried to return a bicycle to station 91 place 2. I waited for the red light, but instead the station blinked red and green. It was impossible to remove it again. I returned 15 minutes later and tried again, but the light was still blinking red and green. I also tried using my card, but the station told me that I still have a bicycle in use. I hope you can fix this on your side so that I can use bicing tomorrow again. Thanks Christof
Update: No response from bicing, but my card is enabled again now.

Bicing y robing también...- Lavanguardia.es - Noticias, actualidad, última hora en Cataluña y España

Bicing y robing también...- Lavanguardia.es - Noticias, actualidad, última hora en Cataluña y España: "El servicio Bicing del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona viene generando desde su creación en 2007 multitud de quejas por cobros indebidos, quejas a las que el Ayuntamiento parece no tener en cuenta. Las reclamaciones presentadas resultan en oídos sordos por parte tanto de la empresa adjudicataria del servicio como del propio Ayuntamiento."

More complaints about the way bicing handles "stolen" bicycles and how it punishes it users for this

There is even a blog now: bicingyrobing.blogspot.com

Sunday 9 March 2008

bicing #1


bicing
Originally uploaded by daniel.julia
Nice one: bicing bicycle #1 . I haven't caught that one myself yet.

Thursday 6 March 2008

eleven new bicing stations


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  • Andreu Nin, 22
  • Avda. Diagonal,26
  • Cantàbria,55
  • Carrer de Maladeta, 1
  • Carrer de Rabassa,14-16
  • Carrer de Rosselló i Porcel/Avda. Meridiana
  • Floridablanca,49/ Calàbria
  • Independència, 379
  • Plaça de l'Estació
  • Rambla Prim, 221
  • Rosselló,557

Wednesday 27 February 2008

And the Barcelona bicing station madness never stops


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  • Amilcar, 1
  • Carrer de l'Escultor Ordez, 211
  • Carrer de l'Escultor Ordez, 55
  • Concepci Arenal, 281
  • Elkano, 64
  • Petrarca, 44
  • P. Fabra i Puig, 323
  • Sant Iscle, 60
  • Subirats, 5
  • Pl. Virrei Amat

Tuesday 26 February 2008

various bicing news

even more bicing stations


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  • Ada. Diagonal, 652
  • Avda. Meridiana, 404
  • Carrer de Bonavista,14
  • Carrer de la França Xica, 42
  • Coronel Monasterio, 26
  • Pl. del Poble Romaní / Siracusa
  • Font d'en Fargues, 1
  • Gran Via /Passeig de Gràcia
  • Industria , 241
  • C/Joan Torras amb P. Torras i Bages
  • Malats,98-100
  • Passeig Torras i Bages, 129
  • Plaça Eivissa, 10
  • República Dominicana (Centre Comercial)
  • Ronda Guinardo, 118
  • Ronda Guinardo, 179
  • Rosalia de Castro, 41

Thursday 21 February 2008

De percebes y tortugas: Hacking el Bicing

De percebes y tortugas: Hacking el Bicing: "Lo �nico que debemos hacer para poder dejar nuestra bici en un slot que 'no funciona' (la lucecita parpadea en verde y rojo) es insertar una llave (o algo de metal) en uno de los dos agujeros y esperar unos segundos. Veremos que la lucecita dejar�de parpadear, y los hierros que imped�an dejar nuestra bici se mover�n. El slot estar�listo para dejar tu bici sin problemas!"

Friday 15 February 2008

twelve new bicing stations


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Another batch of new bicing stations. This time one right on my corner. Very nice. The station didn't have any bikes this morning though.

  • Carrer de Bartrina, 14
  • Carrer de Francesc Pérez Cabrero, 6
  • Carrer del Doctor Trueta, 221
  • Carrer de Palomar, 6-14
  • Comtes de Bell-lloc, 148
  • Girona, 156
  • Gran Via, 990/ Bac de Roda (MAR)
  • Malats, 28-30
  • Passeig de Garcia Faria / Espronceda
  • Passeig de Garcia Faria/ Josep Ferrater i Móra
  • Rambla de Prim, 1-9
  • C/València , 621

This station was removed

  • Sant Pere més Alt 4

Monday 11 February 2008

17 new bicing stations


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  • Alenxadre Galí 1-5
  • Cardenal Tedeschini, 13
  • Carrer del Pare Manyanet, 23
  • Espronceda, 298
  • Felip II, 214
  • Gran de Sant Andreu, 93-97
  • Indústria, 344 / Navas de Tolosa
  • Irlanda, 11-21
  • Josep Estivill, 32
  • Juan de Garay, 116
  • Pl. Maragall, 22
  • Olesa, 43
  • Palència, 31
  • Portugal, enfront del 19
  • Ramon Albó, 13
  • Sant Adrià, 2-8
  • Vallés i Ribot, 46-56

bicing spotting: #5000

Friday 8 February 2008

The Bike-sharing Blog: Random Velib' Data

Paul DeMaio from the bike sharing blog has some interesting information on Velib usage. I really would be interested in similar information for Barcelona.

It is probably similar. The usage here is certainly dependent on the weather too. Just try to find a parking spot at the beach in the summer.

The Bike-sharing Blog: Random Velib' Data: "I shall call today's post 'Random Velib' Data'. In a recent email exchange with a Paris official, I learned about the following points regarding trips and subscriptions. There are a few surprising notes here."

Monday 4 February 2008

16 new stations


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  • c/Doctor Fleming con c/Bori i Fontestà
  • c/Doctor Fleming con c/Santa Fe de Nou Mèxic
  • c/Madrazo con c/Santaló
  • c/Rector Ubach con c/Muntaner
  • c/Gran de Gràcia, 155 (delante parada de metro Fontana).
  • c/Canó con c/Travessera de Gràcia
  • c/Santacreu, 2 (Plaza de la Virreina).
  • c/Sant Crist con c/Cros
  • c/Laforja con c/Aribau
  • Plaza del Norte, 5
  • c/Nil Fabra con c/Benito Pérez Galdós
  • c/Secretari Coloma con c/Pi i Maragall
  • c/Vilà i Vilà con c/Mata
  • c/Nou de la Rambla con Passeig de Montjuïc
  • Paseo de la Exposición con c/Blasco de Garay
  • c/Sancho de Ávila con c/Badajoz

bike spotting: #4905

Tuesday 29 January 2008

The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 3: Clear Channel) : TreeHugger

The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 3: Clear Channel) : TreeHugger: "This week we interviewed Clear Channel Outdoor in Spain, the company behind the bike sharing system Bicing in Barcelona, whose success story you can read here. We previously interviewed Mayra Nieto from Barcelona’s City Council (Part 1) as well as some of its over 100.000 users (Part 2).

Clear Channel Outdoor is the world's largest outdoor advertising company, designing advertising displays for anywhere from airports and taxis to malls and including some of New York's Times Square displays. We learned that one of the most sustainable and innovative Product Service Systems like the Bicing, is the fruit of this company’s international street furniture division. Read what Jordi Sáez, regional director of Clear Channel in Catalonia, has to say about Bicing and sharing bikes."

Tuesday 15 January 2008

The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 2: the Users) : TreeHugger

The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 2: the Users) : TreeHugger: "This is Part 2 of our interview series about Barcelona’s bike sharing system Bicing. You can read the first interview with Mayra Nieto from the Barcelona City Council here. To find out what Bicing users thought of their relatively new public transport system, we went into the streets and asked them. With 194 stations and over 100.000 users it wasn’t difficult to fget hold of them."

Tuesday 8 January 2008

The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 1: City Council) : TreeHugger

The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 1: City Council) : TreeHugger: "The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 1: City Council)"

TreeHugger interview with Mayra Nieto from the Mobility Division of B:SM, the Barcelona Municipal Service.

Friday 4 January 2008

More on the new bikes

I saw bike #4192 (and #9) today and had a look at the changes. I didn't have my camera with me, so pictures will have to wait.

As I mentioned before: the obsolete lamp holder in the front was removed. The new bikes also have a new gear shifter, which looks a bit more robust. The biggest change is to the front brake, which was replaced by a drum brake. These should be more reliable than the old brake. Drum brakes work better in the rain, don't need as much adjustments and don't have the problem of stolen brake pads.

#4192 got me thinking today: bicing just announced that they have 3000 bicycles in service. Does that mean that 1192 bikes got stolen or broken?

btw: my bicing card worked again today, after reentering my credit card information in the online system. It is the same card, so it is a bit strange.

Thursday 3 January 2008

100000 bicing users

Bicing now has 100000 subscribers, 194 stations and 3000 bicycles. And all in less than a year since the start in March 2007. Here is a video with our mayor with card #100000. The mapabicing blog also has a new map with all the stations

I saw bicycle number 3970 today. This is the highest number I have seen so far and the first bicycle without the original front light holder attached to the basket. I wonder what they come up with next, as the new "temporary" lights aren't really that good either

My card still doesn't work, but I have given them my credit card information again. Lets hope that this will help. No reply to email yet either.

Wednesday 2 January 2008

got bitten twice

This time I got bitten by the bicing computer problems too.

At the moment I am not able to use bicing, because the stations tell me that my card is not valid. They recognise it as a card, but not as a valid one. Whatever that means. I send them a email, lets see what happens.

Once I noticed this I checked my bicing account and noticed that they think I used a bike for 3h30m on the 20th. The start time is ok, as I used it to get to work, which takes 10m. For some reason the bicycle thinks I returned it at noon. This probably means paying a penalty unless they admit that this is an error

Well, lets see...

Tuesday 1 January 2008