People always ask me about the red Bicing bikes in Barcelona, they are the ones that you see in the computerized racks all over the city, they are the Barcelona version of the London Borris bikes!

The first question I get asked all the time is how to get one and are they available for tourists the simple answer to that question is no they are not available to tourists. To gain access to the bikes you must live in Barcelona and sign up for a membership, the process is easy and within a few clicks, you will have a card sent to your house, with this card you can access a bike.

The second question is how much do they cost, well it’s really actually very cheap, you pay a yearly membership of 50€ and then every time you take a Bicing it is free for the first 30 minutes, ideal for shooting across town, for up to 90 minutes more its only 7 cents (that’s a total of 2 hours for 7 cents). If you take the bike for over 2 hours you will get charged 5€, all of these charges are made automatically with your bank that is linked to your account.

I have used the Bicing system and it works fine every now and then you do get a broken bike but you simply just put it back and get another one. A problem arises sometimes when you are trying to drop your bike off at a busy rack if it’s full you either have to wait around or go find another rack and in busy Barcelona, this often happens. Overall the system works well and the bikes are maintained well.

Though it’s not my favorite mode of transport in Barcelona for 50€ a year if you live in Barcelona it is handy to have a Bicing card in your wallet after a long night out they do come in useful for the morning after ride home of shame.

If you would like more info on the Barcelona Bicing system head over to there website https://www.bicing.barcelona/ as all things in Catalunya the website is available only in Catalan and Spanish the government thinks if you don’t speak either of them two languages then you don’t deserve a membership.