Girona has inaugurated its first covered bicycle parking in the city. It is located in the Parc Central, next to the high-speed and conventional train stations and will have capacity for 82 two-wheeled vehicles. The infrastructure, largely financed by Next Generation funds, cost 82,000 euros.
Its use will be free and those who travel by train or residents of the area who use bicycles daily when traveling can benefit from it. The parking lot will be accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The equipment has security cameras but does not secure the vehicles, so the City Council, the parking manager, will not be responsible in the event of theft or damage to the bikes. Vehicles must be padlocked. The module will have 12 lockers and an electrical connection point.
As explained by Jordi Masó, head of the Girocleta service, to park, which will be completely free, the user must first register in the ‘Pverde’ application. Subsequently, the user will receive an email from the Girocleta Office in which they will be authorized to park in the module, which will be open 24 hours a day.
To access the space, the client can do so through the App or by entering a numeric keypad, a personal access code. The maximum parking time allowed is 72 consecutive hours.
If the user exceeds that time, they will receive a message asking them to remove the bike from the parking lot. In addition, the City Council can penalize the offender by preventing him from parking for a few days, but no financial sanctions are contemplated.
The councilor for Ecological Transition and Urban Transformation of the Girona City Council, Cristina Andreu, highlighted the intermodal nature of this car park, which is strategically located next to the conventional and high-speed train station.
“It is proposed as an intermodal parking lot, so we believe that it will enhance this modal exchange between different ways of moving around the city,” said the mayor, who does not rule out opening municipal parking lots for bikes in other parts of the city in the future.
On the other hand, the City Council also presented today the acquisition of two new electric vans, which will help the redistribution of the Girocletas, the city’s public bike system, which does not stop growing. In summer, five more stations will be inaugurated, allowing for a network of 35 parking spaces.
Currently, Girocleta’s fleet consists of 370 bikes. The City Council has recently purchased 250 new vehicles, of which 175 have already been delivered and the rest will be put into service as the new stations open.