Barcelona City Council has fined UTE Pedalem, the operator of Bicing, €150,000 for failing to maintain the bicycles. The planned improvement exceeds €5.8 million.
The municipal company BSM has imposed a fine of €150,000 on UTE Pedalem, the operator of the service, for not meeting commitments regarding the availability and speed of bicycle maintenance. Issues with batteries, the mobile app, brakes, and lack of inspections have led to this penalty.
Municipal sources confirm that the penalty mechanisms are already activated. At the same time, the council has launched a plan for the entire Bicing to be 100% electric starting from next summer, with an investment of €5.8 million.
The plan includes the purchase and replacement of 2,000 batteries, renewal of brake components, and expansion of maintenance and logistics teams. Additionally, 400 new bikes will be added to the reserve fleet to better respond to breakdowns or spikes in demand.
For Barcelona residents, the most visible change will be the gradual removal of mechanical bicycles in favour of electric ones, which currently number 5,000 out of a total of 8,000. The service ended the previous year with record usage, and the City Council expects that 2026 will conclude with 20.5 million trips, a historic maximum largely attributed to the growth of electric bikes, which are used on average 16 times on weekdays.
The contract was awarded in 2019 to the UTE formed by CESPA-Serveo (Ferrovial) and the Canadian company PBSC. Since then, the fleet has grown from 7,000 to 8,000 bicycles, with electrification increasing from just 300 units to the current number. Users who detect breakdowns can report them through the service's app.
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