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Bicincittà, Italy

(SELF SERVICE SCHEMES)
Bicincittà is referred to as a ‘bike sharing’ initiative. The system is targeted at public administrations, to make bicycles available in towns and cities for point to point journeys around urban centres, mostly in Italy, but also now in Spain.

Emphasis is placed on this being a ‘bike-sharing’ scheme rather than traditional bike rental, meaning bikes are intended for short loan periods for city errands. The service is indended to dovetail with other public transport systems in order to facilitate intermodal options for travelling around and in and out of the city without a car.

First introduced in 2004, the Bicincittà scheme has now been installed in 21 cities, mostly in central and southern Italy, but also other locations including Turín, San Sebastian (Spain) and Pamplona (Spain). There are indications of nearly 11,000 registered users and currently 1700 individual stands across all 21 locations. It is however a well-developed ‘smart’ networked service and its operation is not dissimilar to those offered by Clear Channel, JCDecuax and other competing programs.

The charging structure for the service varies between cities where Bicincittà is implemented. In Cuneo, Chivasso and Savigliano, for example this service is free, in Parma and Pistoia it costs about 80 cents per hour. Some cities require pre-registration and an annual membership fee.

Facility
Self-service on-street automated bicycle hire, in many cities in Italy

Provider
Bicincittà (Comunicare s.r.l.) in partnership with City councils in respective towns, Italy.
In Rome, Pamplona and San Sebastián, the installation is also linked to an agreement with advertiser and transport company Cemusa http://www.cemusa.com/web/prehome.htm

Designer / Architect
Comunicare s.r.l

Supplier / Manufacturer of System Equipment
Comunicare S.r.l.
Via Genova 2 – 10040 Rivalta di Torino
T. 011.90.19.150 –
F. 011.90.20.345

Cost of Provision
Undisclosed information

Strengths
• Relatively simple ‘third generation’ system can be installed in small or larger numbers, according to town budget, size, demand, etc
• No necessary minimum number of bike stands at one station for system operation
• On-stand swipe-card readers
• No need for on-site digital interface, keeps costs down, reduces opportunities for vandalism/ failure and simplifies user interaction process

Weaknesses
• Dubious security of bike components and fixings
• Not sufficient evidence of custom non-removable or non-transferable parts. Little use of security screws
• Design of bikes is very ‘traditional’ in style and may not communicate a 21st century system to some
• No information available on issues with theft or vandalism among current installations
• Some existing installations too-small scale for the size of towns/ populations they have been installed for – implies possibility of too few bikes available to meet demand and the service not being convenient (local) enough for user’s destinations

Useful References
www.bicincitta.com
www.bicincitta.com (.pdf)
www.spaziocomune.com
www.roma-n-bike.it
www.roma-n-bike.it/Blog
www.youtube.com
www.centroinbici.it
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