 Seville is on a mission to become Spain’s most environmentally-aware city, and its new cycle paths are just one step in a grander plan
It’s long and it’s green - and it’s growing by the day. The tendrils of Seville’s new cycle network have spread themselves alongside the avenues and the riverbanks of the city over the course of the last year - with vigorous new growth continuing still. The city authorities have been unravelling strips of coloured tarmac with the apparent abandon of a puppy with a toilet roll. This, though, is no aimless frivolity but a carefully planned and an efficiently executed project that is already working well, and there is a lot more still to come.
Seville is going sustainable, and a key part of the city’s bid for a greener transport system is the strategic network of bicycle paths, segregated from motor vehicles and designed to connect the suburbs with the centre. The master plan looks like a tube map, with colour-coded trails serving popular routes, radiating from a central nucleus. When completed (which shouldn’t take too long), there will be nearly 100 miles of high-quality cycle paths, all linked up to allow cyclists to navigate themselves safely to all parts of the city.
“I have been cycling in Seville for years,” says Elisa Guidera, a long-term resident from the United States, “and it’s just great, how much better it’s gotten recently. This is a great place for cycling anyway – it’s flat, it gets warm even in winter and it hardly ever rains.” She is not alone. Many Sevillanos are beating the traffic by taking to two wheels. Judging from the number of cycles to be seen on its streets, Seville is fast becoming the Amsterdam of Andalucía. In May last year the city celebrated La Fiesta de la Bici, when thousands of cyclists took to the streets of the city centre and enjoyed a day of music, food, drink and cycling.
If the cycle lanes are impressive, the SEVICI initiative is a gobsmacking wonder. All around the centre, bicycle-for-loan ranks have been installed, where residents and visitors can sign up for the right to borrow one of the sturdy city bikes with the trademark red mudguard. “I have been using these bikes almost every day since the summer”, says one happy customer at the Plaza San Agustin rank. ”I can get to my office by the Plaza de Armas in less than ten minutes and leave the bike there”. The SEVICI plan for almost-free bicycle borrowing was inaugurated in April 2007, with 20 bikes at two ranks. Now there are hundreds, with a target of 2,500 bicycles at 250 ranks before the end of 2008. Users obtain a week-long or year-long membership card from the multi-language touchpad-and-screen dispensers at each of the ranks, and swipe their new card to unlock a bike. The first half hour’s use is free, the next hour costs 50 cents and each hour thereafter is priced at €1. Bikes can be returned to any rank with available space.
The system is proving very popular. Many of the bike stands are almost empty before the sun has warmed the saddles. Such is its success that Seville has won the fifth annual international Conbici award for sustainable mobility. Meanwhile work continues on other, hugely ambitious projects to improve the access and amenity of the culturally rich city. A modern tram, although plagued with teething troubles, runs just a mile or so from Plaza Nueva, with a planned extension to the AVE station at Santa Justa. For much of its length it passes along the broad, monumental Avenida de la Constitución, newly closed to traffic and now enjoyed almost exclusively by pedestrians and cyclists. Work on two brand new Metro lines continues apace, and the first line is expected to open before the end of 2008.
These imaginative, creative solutions are not universally popular. Car-addicted Sevillanos scoff at the expense, the disruption and the technical hitches that inevitably accompany such schemes. Some complain about the cycle lanes, too, but I suspect that many of the moans come from those who once parked illegally in places now reserved for cyclists. To sample the potential of Seville’s new cycling facilities, I set out on my own journey of discovery. With just a short spell of time at my disposal, I opted to hire a bike from one of several specialist companies that have recently appeared.
I collected a practical machine with a pannier on the front handlebars and a pair of sturdy locks against possible theft. Bici4City is a new rental firm that offers guided tours and self-guided, themed itineraries, with MP3 recordings via earphones. I opted for straight rental by the hour for a modest fee, with a street map provided. Leaving behind the narrow, atmospheric alleyways of Santa Cruz and the magnificent cathedral precinct – I had already wandered here on foot – I headed instead for the open spaces along the left bank of the Guadalquivir River.
Read the full story in our April 2008 issue. |
