As Morski writes, Podstrana has become the first municipality in Split-Dalmatia County where the system of public bicycles financed from the EU project “Choose a bicycle!”, With a total value of 13.6 million kuna, started operating recently.
Two terminals with six electric and six classic bicycles have been set up as part of the new Podstrana public bike system. One terminal is on Strozanac next to the bicycle path by the sea and car parks, and the other near the Petricevo playground, along the edge of Mile Gojsalic street.
”It’s a great advantage that the citizens of Podstrana will be able to use the public bike system for recreation as well as in combination with public transport, such as to get from home to the bus station and back. The City of Split plans to set up a terminal in Zrnovnica, which will significantly improve people’s mobility, as well as the connection with the first neighbouring municipality,” said project manager Toni Jerkovic from the Department for International and EU Projects of the City of Split.
The Municipality of Podstrana was the first among the cities and municipalities to provide the location and everything needed to set up such a public bicycle system, and its mayor claims that Podstrana has nurtured cycling as an alternative form of transport for years, with zero CO2 emissions.
”We plan to work in the future on the construction of bike paths and to revamp the existing ones, in order to connect all of the local settlements within the municipality, but also to achieve better connections with neighbouring cities and municipalities,” noted Mayor Mijo Dropuljic.
Judging by statistical indicators, Split is the record holder in the number of users of public bicycle systems in the Republic of Croatia, and it is to be expected that this trend will continue thanks to new terminals and bicycles in the agglomeration.
”In the last year, we’ve seen over half a million rents on 300 bicycles in Split. Among their 40,000 registered users, many of them are from Podstrana. They use the system every day, so with these terminals we’ll primarily improve the quality of system use for existing users, and then acquire a number of new users. We’ve already secured the entire contingent of 242 bicycles financed from this project and we’re looking forward to expanding the system to other municipalities and cities because the figures confirm that people really want that,” said Ante Gustin, the director of Sustav javnih bicikala d.o.o., a representative of Nextbike.
The annual subscription for renting a bike is 200 kuna and allows unlimited use of the new Podstrana public bike system throughout the year, with the first half hour being free for everyone. After 30 minutes, the price is ten kuna for an electric and five kuna for a classic bike, for every half an hour of use.
In addition to Podstrana and Split, the system of public bicycles will be expanded to the area of Trogir, Kastela, Solin, Klis, Dugopolje and Dicmo with a total of 41 new terminals and 242 bikes. The great value of the project “Choose a bike!” lies in the fact that a study of the development potential of new bike roads will be created.
The total value of the project “Choose a bike!” stands at 13,609,435.83 kuna, and the project is being co-financed by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund.
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