AGLANDJIA municipality has announced that it will soon be unveiling an innovative new bike-rental service designed to offer residents a cheap, healthy and environmentally friendly way of getting around the area.
The scheme has already proven popular in many European cities where people and rent and drop off bikes to go short distances around town. Paris has around 120,000 users a day on its ‘Velib’ system..
Aglandjia municipality said it would soon set up four separate rental ‘stations’, similar to those already in operation in Paris, Barcelona and Copenhagen, which will be placed at strategic locations around the area.
Anyone who wants to use the bicycles will have to apply for a type of debit card, which will be used for scanning in at the station and unlocking a chosen set of wheels, which can then be used to zip around to the university, café or any other place of interest before being dropped off at any one of the four stations.
These are planned to be located at Kallipoleos Avenue, Panestimioupoli, Kyrenia Avenue and Europe Square, providing a comprehensive cover of the area. The cost-price of the bike will be paid by prospective riders upon acquiring the card, and will be deducted whenever a bike is rented, to be refunded back onto the card whenever it is returned. There will also be a ‘nominal’ fee for the actual rental of the bike.
The initiative is part of the broader ‘Intelligent Energy Europe’ programme, which aims to educate and provide practical ways of reducing carbon emissions through community action and inter-European collaboration.
Haris Tsangarides, from Aglandjia Municipality said: “There are two partner cities that are involved in this specific programme at the moment, which are Leiria in Portugal and Lanciano in Italy.” Paris sees around 120,000 users a day.
He added: “The decision was taken by Aglandjia municipality to partake in the project due to a number of compelling factors, the large student-population and two university campuses being one of them.”
Aglandjia is also one of the largest municipalities in Nicosia, containing a number of protected national parks and green spaces, as well as a relatively developed network of cycle paths that can be used by the bikes as soon as they hit the streets.
When asked about whether he had noticed an interest from other Nicosia district municipalities, he said Aglandjia was being viewed as a pilot project “which, if successful, should eventually pave the way for the implementation of the rental service across the whole of Nicosia.”
The bike stations are planned for next autumn, with 50 bikes set to comprise the municipality’s initial fleet.
