The Portuguese Federation of Cycle Tourism and Cyclists (FPCUB) defended this Wednesday that the Navegante public transport subscription in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area includes shared bicycles, “without an extra effort” in the price to be paid by users.
Within the framework of the II Forum Cities and Towns with Shared Public Bicycles, which took place in Lisbon, the president of the FPCUB, José Manuel Caetano, pointed out that the shared bike system is “not for profit”so “everyone wins” with the proposal to include it in the Navegante pass.
In statements to the Lusa agency, José Manuel Caetano reinforced the need to invest in soft modes of transport, including promoting the use of bicycles, to contribute to the fighting climate changeas well as “reducing the very high level of pollution, especially in Lisbon”.
The FPCUB representative highlighted the importance of having shared bike stations at public transport interfaces, because this allows for the “perfect mix” of the different modes, namely bus, metro, train and bike. giving users the choice depending on mobility needs.
José Manuel Caetano praised the GIRA shared bicycle network, provided by the Lisbon Municipal Mobility and Parking Company (EMEL), considering that “it is a good example” for promoting the use of bicycles and that “it is working”, in which there is the possibility of making trips of up to 45 minutes for free and the cost of the annual subscription is 25 euros.
In Lisbon, of every 10 bicycles on the street, seven are shared and three are citizens”, said the representative of bicycle users, referring to the fact that riding with one’s own bicycle always in tow ends up being “an economic loss for the user” . , since it is a good that “is very easily stolen”.
For the federation, it is also necessary to advance in the pacification of road traffic, with the extension of the 30 km/h zones (km/h) in the city, “even because it is an illusion that people think that when they come by car to Lisbon they travel at more than 30 km/h, because the traffic jams are constant”.
The president of the FPCUB said that public space must be shared in a balanced way, even allowing children to play in the street, in which the circulation of the different modes of transport is subject “to the speed of the children, whether they are bikes or cars.
At the national level, the expectation of the federation is that the implementation of shared bicycle systems will be generalized throughout the country.
Present at the II Forum of Cities and Towns with Shared Public Bicycles, the president of EMEL, Luís Natal Marques, said that investment in the GIRA network is “positive capital” of the municipal company of Lisbon, but that “it is not profitable”, despite the fact that the social benefits are not counted, explaining that the financing of this system is ensured with the income from the car park.
Luís Natal Marques indicated that the GIRA shared bicycle network is “a public transport system”, being an alternative to other modes of public transport, instead of being dedicated to recreational transport, revealing that “weekend use is reduced to less than half”.
Right now, the GIRA network has 1,600 bicycles and 140 stations and has already traveled 12 million kilometers and more than seven million trips, reported the president of EMEL, who added that a bicycle makes an average of seven trips a day, while a parking lot is occupied on average by three drivers a day.
referring to that 70% of public space in Lisbon is dedicated to parkingin which some areas of the city reach 85%, the person in charge of EMEL criticized the “civil war between motorists and cyclists”, arguing that the space has to be shared by all and the dominance of the car must be “balanced” to accommodate soft modes, where cycle lanes benefit both in terms of road safety.
Source: Observadora
