Cycling Visionaries Awards - Project Details

Bicycle in Action

The Municipality of Aglantzia since 26/10/2011 applied a bike sharing system. The idea started from our participation in the Tat-project - Students Today, Citizens Tomorrow, an Intelligent Energy Europe Program regarding sustainable mobility. After hard work and the information campaigns of the TaT project the other Municipalities of the greater Nicosia liked the idea of having a similar bike sharing system.

Aglantzia Municipality participates in the Covenant of Mayors and in the Isle Pact Project and it is committed to support the European Union’s objective to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% until 2020. The aim of the bike sharing program is to reduce traffic emissions and to help in the overall effort for an eco-friendly environment. We try to change the attitude of our fellow citizens and make the use of bicycle a crucial part of their everyday lives.
The application of the bike sharing system had great impact in the life of users: user Cost Savings - Using bicycle share is less expensive than operating and owning a motor vehicle, travel Time Savings - For many short trips within the service area, bicycle share trips are likely faster and more convenient than using a motor vehicle, Congestion Reduction - More people using bicycles may decrease the number of people using motor vehicles and therefore reducing traffic congestion, Relieve Transit Ridership - Where transit is at or exceeding capacity, bike share provides an alternative mode of transportation, improved Public Heath - Bicycle share will increase active transportation and exercise.
The system is integrated between all of the participating municipalities and each user can use and return a bike and any station. The user may, for example, get a bike from Aglantzia and return it to Strovolos or to any other station.

So far the use of the System has been very encouraging and promising resulting to the change of attitudes of our fellow citizens. We constantly receive positive feedback from the citizens, press and the government. Many citizens come to our Municipality and request for improvements in the program which we take into consideration for the further evaluation and expansion of the project.