July 10, 2020 - Most everyone in Split knows about the city's public bicycle system, and many citizens use it regularly. Nextbike, which has garnered the support of many citizens and provided them with an alternative, healthier and cheaper way to get around the city, is celebrating its first anniversary this weekend.
Dalmacija Danas writes that in one year, impressive results were achieved, as evidenced by the number of a total of 42,679 rentals made by 7,909 registered users, of which 84 percent were domestic.
Users rode bicycles for 22,039 hours, while the average rental duration is 30.5 minutes, and they cycled a total of 330,585.55 kilometers, which is just over eight laps around the equator!
It was in Split that records in the use of public bicycle systems in Croatia were broken. The City of Split thus holds the record in the monthly number of rentals with a total of 9,168 rentals in May, while the record number of rentals in a single day was May 3 when there were 450.
Split Parking said that from the beginning, they believed that citizens would recognize and accept this system and its benefits, and they are sure that the interest and number of users with the introduction of new stations, bicycles and opportunities will only continue to grow. The system of public bicycles also showed its advantages during epidemiological measures, when bicycles became the favorite means of transport for citizens.
"When we first started, I must admit that some were skeptical about whether the people of Split would accept this system, but the numbers clearly show that they are. We have done everything in our power to make riding as comfortable as possible, we are working on introducing new possibilities, and we have recently made it possible to ride with small children by placing child seats on public bicycles, the first in Croatia. I believe that, as announced, the development of the city's cycling infrastructure will be accompanied by an increase in the number of stations and bicycles so that our citizens can enjoy cycling in the safest possible way," said Marko Bartulic, director of Split Parking.
The citizens of Split currently have 12 stations and 86 bicycles (classic and electric) at their disposal, and by the end of the year, another 170 new bicycles and about 40 new stations have been announced in order to cover all districts and important locations. The stations with the largest number of rentals in the first year are Riva with 7,042, Split 3 with 5,349, and Znjan with 4,462 rentals.
It is important to emphasize that the further development of this mode of transport is important for preserving the city's environment because the citizens who cycled instead of driving cars contributed to reducing emissions, i.e., ensured that 82.64 tons less of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere over the year.
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