Maybe it is time to leave the car at home in Valencia
With over 100 bike rental shops in Valencia and hundreds of kilometres of bike lanes, Valencia is the perfect city to move around on a bike or an e-scooter.
According to Airvisual’s list of the world’s most polluted cities for 2018, Valencia is now more polluted than Madrid and Bilbao. Madrid has made an effort to reduce emissions by restricting the speed limit and alternating between odd and even registration plates. This has meant that when restrictions are in place, the number of cars on the road on any given day is halved.
Joan Ribó, the mayor of Valencia, has taken a different approach. By building more bike lanes, the mayor and transport councilor Giuseppe Grezzi have allowed bikes to become the easiest and fastest way of getting from A to B. With a strong infrastructure and a high number of bike rental services in Valencia, including a public bike sharing scheme, it would appear to be the perfect opportunity to clean up the city by reducing emissions.
Unfortunately, the new bike lanes have been met by strong opposition from car drivers, who blame the bike lanes for the huge traffic jams that are appearing at most times during the day.
The car driver mentality is long ingrained but rather than suggesting the removal of the bike lanes, as those opposed have, it would appear that a change of mentality is required and would be more progressive.
It is both cleaner and safer to use a bike or an e-scooter (not on the pavement) to travel within the city. Valencia is not a large city and a car is rarely necessary. As well as not polluting the air, using a bike would also make the city a quieter, more pleasant place to be.
Why not give it a try for a few days and leave the car at home? You can rent a bike or an e-scooter in Valencia with BikeAlao in both the port area and in Ruzafa, so you can take a quality bike or an e-scooter from the beach to the city and vice versa.
Let’s see if we can make Valencia clean.
Joan Ribó, the mayor of Valencia, has taken a different approach. By building more bike lanes, the mayor and transport councilor Giuseppe Grezzi have allowed bikes to become the easiest and fastest way of getting from A to B. With a strong infrastructure and a high number of bike rental services in Valencia, including a public bike sharing scheme, it would appear to be the perfect opportunity to clean up the city by reducing emissions.
Unfortunately, the new bike lanes have been met by strong opposition from car drivers, who blame the bike lanes for the huge traffic jams that are appearing at most times during the day.
The car driver mentality is long ingrained but rather than suggesting the removal of the bike lanes, as those opposed have, it would appear that a change of mentality is required and would be more progressive.
It is both cleaner and safer to use a bike or an e-scooter (not on the pavement) to travel within the city. Valencia is not a large city and a car is rarely necessary. As well as not polluting the air, using a bike would also make the city a quieter, more pleasant place to be.
Why not give it a try for a few days and leave the car at home? You can rent a bike or an e-scooter in Valencia with BikeAlao in both the port area and in Ruzafa, so you can take a quality bike or an e-scooter from the beach to the city and vice versa.
Let’s see if we can make Valencia clean.
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| A BikeAlao e-scooter in Central Park in Valencia |
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