On 20 September, the World Day without Car, the first pilot of the SPROUT project has been launched in Valencia, with the presence of the Regional Councillor for Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility, together with other political representatives.
The introduction of a new system of secure parking facilities for bicycles, Cicloparc, improves the intermodality of some of the metro stations managed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana, providing to metro users facilities to leave their bicycles parked for a maximum period of 24 hours. The first station to have this service is Torrent-Avinguda and a second bike parking will be opened in the coming weeks.
In order to use this system, metro users will only need to register their transport pass card on the Metrovalencia website; once activated they will be able to open the door of the parking facility, by sliding it through a detector. Once inside they will be able to lock their bicycle using their own padlocks. The parking is equipped with security cameras to ensure greater security.
The SPROUT pilot activities in Valencia do not only aim at encouraging more multimodal travel. The installation of e-lockers for the delivery of parcels in selected metro and tram stations is planned to reduce the carbon footprint in the last-mile distribution of goods, allowing users to collect packages by public transport.
