Ljubljana has gained a new bike station in the self-service bike borrowing system BICIKE(LJ).

In the morning of Thursday 9 May 2013, a new bike parking station in Ljubljana’s BICIKE(LJ) self-service bike loan system opened at the Mercator Centre in Šiška. The sponsor of its opening is retail giant Mercator. The station has 22 bike points and 11 new bikes. The maintenance cost of an individual station is €8,500 a year.

Ljubljana introduced the BICIKE(LJ) system as part of a public-private partnership in May 2011. It is a self service system of bike loans, which supplements the public transport system in the city and enables quicker and cheaper transport around the city between 33 stations (the latest being today’s opening at Mercator in Šiška). Last year, Europlakat awarded the City of Ljubljana special recognition as an Urban Visionary for the BICIKE(LJ) project.

After two operational years, BICIKE(LJ) has over 43,000 users who have made over 1,200,000 journeys in this period. On average, each of the bikes in the system is used at least six times a day. This means that each bike is out on the road for a good two hours a day as each loan lasts an average of 22 minutes.

According to research conducted in October last year, in which 311 residents of Ljubljana and surrounding areas took part, the BICIKE(LJ) project is rated as very beneficial (79% of those surveyed) and positive (95% of responders).

Through the introduction of the BICIKE(LJ) system and other measures to encourage cycling, we have achieved a 27% growth in journeys made by bike in the city. The share at the outset in 2009 was 10%.
The introduction of BICIKE(LJ) means that Ljubljana is fulfilling its vision as a ‘green’ cycle-friendly city, as it offers residents and visitors alike a more environmentally- and people-friendly means of transport around town that replaces the use of private cars. This effort also includes the new City of Ljubljana Transport Policy, under which, through the redistribution of the share of means of transport used for individual journeys, we will strive to reach a target of a third of journeys being made by bike or on foot, a third by public transport and the rest by private vehicles by 2020.

You can find out more about the BICIKE(LJ) self-service bike-borrowing system on its official website, where you can also sign up for your first journey.