1001 Smart Cities
🇪🇸 Barcelona

Bicing Public Bike-Share

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 14 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

14 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

Only 5,000 of Barcelona's roughly 8,000 shared bikes are electric, and they carry about eight of every ten trips. The city has logged over 100 million trips since the 2019 relaunch.

Outcome🎯 Succeeded
Evidence🔬 Peer-reviewed
what does this mean?The strongest source behind this entry is an independent peer-reviewed or academic study. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byB:SM (Barcelona de Serveis Municipals) / Pedalem Barcelona
Scale🏙️ City-wide

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,216 documented projects · 🏙️ 19 more in Barcelona · 🛴 Shared mobility guide · 🚲 Mobility projects

Barcelona's council-run bike-share launched in March 2007 (operated by Clear Channel until 2018, then Pedalem Barcelona/PBSC under municipal firm BSM). A 2019 relaunch scaled up pedal-assist e-bikes first piloted in 2014: the fleet now runs about 8,000 bikes (5,000 electric) across roughly 557 app-enabled docking stations, with around 170,000 subscribers. E-bikes carry about eight of every ten trips, and the city logged over 100 million trips since the 2019 relaunch.

Live 📅 since 2007

📊 Impact

In a 2013 survey of 367 Bicing cyclists, nearly two-thirds had never or nearly never cycled their current trips before the scheme; almost half would otherwise have taken public transport, 30% would have walked and fewer than 5% would have used a car or motorcycle. A peer-reviewed health impact assessment found that Bicing's physical-activity benefits outweighed its traffic and air-pollution risks in every scenario it tested, but its headline estimate of about 12 deaths avoided a year assumed that 90% of regular users had switched from cars.

🎓 Lesson

A bike-share can turn non-cyclists into cyclists without taking many cars off the road: Barcelona's riders came mostly from public transport and walking, so a benefit counted against car trips needs the substitution survey beside it.

🚲 MobilityShared mobilityCyclingSensors & IoT

Sources

↗ Bicing (Barcelona city) — official 'Datos Bicing' live data page (2026)Live service figures: 8,000 bikes, 557 stations, 169,316 subscribers, about 1.56 million uses in August 2026, 6.2 uses per bike per day; riders unlock bikes through the SMOU app.
↗ Ajuntament de Barcelona — 'El Bicing alcanza las 8.000 bicicletas...' (July 2025)Published 1 July 2025City council news: 30 new stations bring the network to 557 with 5,000 electric bikes; 100 million trips since the new Bicing began in 2019 were reached in June 2025.
↗ Catalan News — 'Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019' (20 July 2025)100 million trips since 2019; 8,000 bikes, 5,000 of them electric and carrying 8 of 10 trips; over 164,000 subscribers and around 1.5 million trips a month.
↗ Wikipedia — 'Bicing' (launch, operator history)Implemented in March 2007, promoted by the City Council; managed by municipal company B:SM with Pedalem Barcelona as concessionaire since 2019; 7,000-bike expansion with pedal-assisted PBSC bikes from 2019.
↗ Wikipedia (Spanish) — 'Bicing' (operators 2007–2018 and since 2019)Clear Channel ran the service from 2007 to 2018; since 2019 the concession belongs to Pedalem Barcelona, a joint venture of CESPA (Ferrovial Servicios) and PBSC, with B:SM as manager.
Show 3 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Interempresas — 'El Bicing eléctrico ya está en funcionamiento' (16 Dec 2014)Electric Bicing starts as a test phase with 150 e-bikes at 23 stations for 1,500 existing users, followed by a pilot running to 2017.
↗ de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)Published 19 September 2013Street survey of 367 Bicing cyclists and 428 non-cyclists: nearly two-thirds of cyclists had never or nearly never cycled their current trips before Bicing; almost half would have used public transport, 30% walked, under 5% a car or motorcycle.
↗ Rojas-Rueda et al. — Health risks and benefits of cycling compared with car use: health impact assessment of Bicing (BMJ, 2011)Published 4 August 2011Health impact assessment of 181,982 Bicing subscribers: 12.46 deaths a year avoided through physical activity against small traffic and pollution risks, and a net benefit in every scenario tested; the main scenario assumed 90% of regular users had switched from cars, and data on actual mode shift could not be found.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2007. 5 of 8 sources carry a publication date, from 4 August 2011 to 20 July 2025.

When the sources were published

  1. BMJ · researchRojas-Rueda et al. — Health risks and benefits of cycling compared with car use: health impact assessment of Bicing (BMJ, 2011)
  2. Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley · researchde Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)
  3. Interempresas Media · pressInterempresas — 'El Bicing eléctrico ya está en funcionamiento' (16 Dec 2014)
  4. Ajuntament de Barcelona · city governmentAjuntament de Barcelona — 'El Bicing alcanza las 8.000 bicicletas...' (July 2025)
  5. Catalan News (Agència Catalana de Notícies) · pressCatalan News — 'Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019' (20 July 2025)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 14 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence file · public beta 14 addressable claims, 8 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The file is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 14

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-329066cae5349120 quantitative
Barcelona's council-run bike-share launched in March 2007
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Wikipedia: Bicing "was implemented in March 2007, promoted by the City Council"; the infobox gives 22 March 2007 as the start of operation.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Wikipedia — 'Bicing' (launch, operator history)
Claim 2 clm-652b7a82d0d78a8f quantitative
operated by Clear Channel until 2018, then Pedalem Barcelona/PBSC under municipal firm BSM
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Spanish Wikipedia: "La empresa municipal Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) es la gestora del servicio, mientras que la concesión de explotación corresponde desde 2019 a Pedalem Barcelona, una Unión Temporal de Empresas formada por CESPA (Ferrovial Servicios) y PBSC. Entre 2007 y 2018 fue Clear Channel la empresa encargada de dicha tarea."
Caveat
Pedalem Barcelona is a joint venture of CESPA (Ferrovial Servicios) and PBSC, not PBSC alone.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Wikipedia (Spanish) — 'Bicing' (operators 2007–2018 and since 2019)
Claim 3 clm-48b9c8d6786cc434 quantitative
A 2019 relaunch scaled up pedal-assist e-bikes first piloted in 2014
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Wikipedia: "In 2019 the network started a large 7,000 bike expansion with pedal assisted bikes from Canadian firm PBSC." Interempresas, 16 December 2014: electric Bicing starts "con 150 vehículos y 23 estaciones" for 1,500 users, followed by a pilot running to 2017.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Wikipedia — 'Bicing' (launch, operator history)
  2. Interempresas — 'El Bicing eléctrico ya está en funcionamiento' (16 Dec 2014)
Claim 4 clm-31ade54040a5bd58 quantitative
the fleet now runs about 8,000 bikes (5,000 electric) across roughly 557 app-enabled docking stations
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The live data page lists "8.000 Número de bicicletas" and "557 Número de estaciones" and invites riders to download the SMOU app to use Bicing; the July 2025 city news says "ya son 557 las estaciones operativas, con 5.000 bicicletas eléctricas disponibles".
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Bicing (Barcelona city) — official 'Datos Bicing' live data page (2026)
  2. Ajuntament de Barcelona — 'El Bicing alcanza las 8.000 bicicletas...' (July 2025)
Claim 5 clm-7d3b76bbab3ba7a4 quantitative
with around 170,000 subscribers
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The live data page shows 169.316 under "Número de abonados bicing", next to monthly use figures for August 2026.
Caveat
A live counter without its own date; the page's monthly figures refer to August 2026.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Bicing (Barcelona city) — official 'Datos Bicing' live data page (2026)
Claim 6 clm-3de1487eb8e03a76 descriptive
E-bikes carry about eight of every ten trips
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Catalan News: "Out of the 8,000 bikes, 5,000 of them are electric and represent 8 out of 10 Bicing trips."
Caveat
Figures from a city council statement, reported in July 2025.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Catalan News — 'Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019' (20 July 2025)
Claim 7 clm-1ea1d0b204061836 quantitative
the city logged over 100 million trips since the 2019 relaunch
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
City news: "Este mes de junio se han alcanzado los 100 millones de viajes acumulados desde el inicio del nuevo Bicing, en el año 2019."
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Ajuntament de Barcelona — 'El Bicing alcanza las 8.000 bicicletas...' (July 2025)
  2. Catalan News — 'Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019' (20 July 2025)
Claim 8 clm-143abe169e95aa13 quantitative
In a 2013 survey of 367 Bicing cyclists, nearly two-thirds had never or nearly never cycled their current trips before the scheme
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
"Of the 367 current cyclists, nearly two thirds had never or nearly never used a bicycle for their current cycle trips before 'Bicing', and 70% had never or nearly never considered cycling."
Caveat
A conference abstract, based on self-reported answers from current users recruited in the street.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)
Claim 9 clm-b5f2623f1140581c quantitative
almost half would otherwise have taken public transport, 30% would have walked and fewer than 5% would have used a car or motorcycle
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
"Almost half of all current cyclists would have taken public transportation for the same trip previously, 30% would have walked, and less than 5% would have used a motor vehicle (car or motorcycle)."
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)
Claim 10 clm-8f102782047a22a4 descriptive
A peer-reviewed health impact assessment found that Bicing's physical-activity benefits outweighed its traffic and air-pollution risks in every scenario it tested
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The paper reports 12.46 deaths avoided through physical activity against 0.03 extra deaths from road traffic incidents and 0.13 from air pollution, and states: "Importantly, we found that in all the scenarios we tested a net benefit was always evident for Bicing users."
Caveat
A model, not a measured outcome.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rojas-Rueda et al. — Health risks and benefits of cycling compared with car use: health impact assessment of Bicing (BMJ, 2011)
Claim 11 clm-e5707d86abd9a9ad quantitative
its headline estimate of about 12 deaths avoided a year assumed that 90% of regular users had switched from cars
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
"We assumed that 90% of these users (n=25 426) were new cyclists who had shifted travel mode from cars"; the paper adds that "Data on shifts in mode of travel as a result of the Bicing initiative could not be found". The annual number of deaths avoided is given as 12.28.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rojas-Rueda et al. — Health risks and benefits of cycling compared with car use: health impact assessment of Bicing (BMJ, 2011)
Claim 12 clm-c315ef9f6efca3f4 descriptive
A bike-share can turn non-cyclists into cyclists without taking many cars off the road
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The survey concludes that "Bike sharing systems provide an impetus for cycling for transportation", while fewer than 5% of current riders would otherwise have used a car or motorcycle.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)
Claim 13 clm-55e0fb3c3e015631 descriptive
Barcelona's riders came mostly from public transport and walking
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Almost half of current cyclists would have taken public transport for the same trip and 30% would have walked.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)
Claim 14 clm-79a8f3952bb56d4e descriptive
a benefit counted against car trips needs the substitution survey beside it
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The health impact assessment compared Bicing trips with the same trips by car and notes that mode-shift data "could not be found"; the later survey found fewer than 5% of riders would have driven or ridden a motorcycle.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rojas-Rueda et al. — Health risks and benefits of cycling compared with car use: health impact assessment of Bicing (BMJ, 2011)
  2. de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-10-14-baseline effective 2026-10-14 · created 2026-10-14

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:7c1b46eb251fbf0281bbc4f8d888c118a05b0d073649d3b0275e9a5663a1014f
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
14
of 14 claims mapped
8
source dossiers
5
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
B:SM (Barcelona de Serveis Municipals) / Pedalem Barcelona
Actor types
utility, private
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

8 source dossiers

Bicing (Barcelona city) — official 'Datos Bicing' live data page (2026) bicing.barcelona · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-7de9e5c75e8e3e18
Publisher
Name not classified · bicing.barcelona
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Live service figures: 8,000 bikes, 557 stations, 169,316 subscribers, about 1.56 million uses in August 2026, 6.2 uses per bike per day; riders unlock bikes through the SMOU app.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Ajuntament de Barcelona — 'El Bicing alcanza las 8.000 bicicletas...' (July 2025) barcelona.cat · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-98ac7dfb8277f6d9
Publisher
Name not classified · barcelona.cat
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-07-01
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City council news: 30 new stations bring the network to 557 with 5,000 electric bikes; 100 million trips since the new Bicing began in 2019 were reached in June 2025.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Catalan News — 'Bicing bike sharing reaches 100m trips since 2019' (20 July 2025) catalannews.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-804c3400b99346aa
Publisher
Name not classified · catalannews.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-07-20
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

100 million trips since 2019; 8,000 bikes, 5,000 of them electric and carrying 8 of 10 trips; over 164,000 subscribers and around 1.5 million trips a month.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Wikipedia — 'Bicing' (launch, operator history) en.wikipedia.org · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-d62c13f163e69758
Publisher
Name not classified · en.wikipedia.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Implemented in March 2007, promoted by the City Council; managed by municipal company B:SM with Pedalem Barcelona as concessionaire since 2019; 7,000-bike expansion with pedal-assisted PBSC bikes from 2019.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Wikipedia (Spanish) — 'Bicing' (operators 2007–2018 and since 2019) es.wikipedia.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-acf6999d92003288
Publisher
Name not classified · es.wikipedia.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Clear Channel ran the service from 2007 to 2018; since 2019 the concession belongs to Pedalem Barcelona, a joint venture of CESPA (Ferrovial Servicios) and PBSC, with B:SM as manager.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Interempresas — 'El Bicing eléctrico ya está en funcionamiento' (16 Dec 2014) interempresas.net · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-87464253541a68f0
Publisher
Name not classified · interempresas.net
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2014-12-16
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Electric Bicing starts as a test phase with 150 e-bikes at 23 stations for 1,500 existing users, followed by a pilot running to 2017.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
de Nazelle et al. — Bicing 'stages of change' survey (ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2013) its.berkeley.edu · 5 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-a585dd078ea3583d
Publisher
Name not classified · its.berkeley.edu
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2013-09-19
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Street survey of 367 Bicing cyclists and 428 non-cyclists: nearly two-thirds of cyclists had never or nearly never cycled their current trips before Bicing; almost half would have used public transport, 30% walked, under 5% a car or motorcycle.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Rojas-Rueda et al. — Health risks and benefits of cycling compared with car use: health impact assessment of Bicing (BMJ, 2011) doi.org · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-7db83799c12ea5f7
Publisher
Name not classified · doi.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2011-08-04
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-14
Dossier created
2026-10-14
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Health impact assessment of 181,982 Bicing subscribers: 12.46 deaths a year avoided through physical activity against small traffic and pollution risks, and a net benefit in every scenario tested; the main scenario assumed 90% of regular users had switched from cars, and data on actual mode shift could not be found.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this file
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇰🇷 Ttareungyi Public Bike-Share · Seoul City-run bike-shares that grew and electrified: Bicing launched 2007, Seoul's Ttareungyi 2015; both among their region's largest. 🇲🇽 Ecobici Bike Share · Mexico City Europe's and Latin America's early docked bike-shares: Ecobici opened 2010, Bicing back in 2007, both now largely electric. 🇩🇰 Bycyklen: Tablet-and-GPS Bike-Share · Copenhagen Bicing survived and went electric where Copenhagen's GPS-tablet Bycyklen collapsed into bankruptcy in 2022.

Explore the wider context

🚦 Asphalt or algorithms📖 Geofencing📖 15-minute city📖 Adaptive traffic signals
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Bicing Public Bike-Share” — Barcelona, Spain. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/barcelona-bicing/ (last verified 2026-10-14). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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