First "velostation" of the Adriatid-Ionian Area to be opened in Bari

The Puglia Region approved an agreement with the regional railway company Ferrovie Appulo Lucane aimed at implementing  and running the first equipped and protected bicycle storage facility at the central railway station in Bari, a CIVITAS Forum member city in Southern Italy.

Exclusively devoted to safe parking, rental and maintenance of bicycles, the new facility will meet the growing demand of commuters, tourists and students. The “velostation” will be the first infrastructure of this type in Central/Southern Italy and in the Adriatic-Ionian area and will be financed by the Puglia Region through the EU transborder cooperation projects GIFT 2.0 (works of premises renovation and setting up of the necessary equipment) and INTERMODAL (activation and management of the service, which will be offered free of charge for the first 8 months).

GIFT 2.0 (Greece-Italy Facilities for Transport 2.0) aims at demonstrating that through a proper integration of the transport system as well as the optimisation of the existing infrastructures in the Apulian-Greek Adriatic-Ionian area, it is possible to overcome transboundary discontinuity and change the area into an integrated and multimodal transport system.

The project INTERMODAL (INTERmodality MOdel for the Development of the Adriatic Littoral zone) involves Italian, Croatian and Albanian partners and deals with the detection of intermodal transport solutions and strategies in the Adriatic coastal areas, in order to reduce pressure from motorised traffic especially in summer periods. The Puglia Region is developing and testing in particular the modal integration between cycling, walking and public transport.

According to the Regional Councillor for Infrastructures Giovanni Giannini, “Through this initiative, in line with our Regional Law n. 1/2013 on cycling mobility, the Puglia Region will be aligned with other European contexts where “velostations” have already a crucial role in facilitating accessibility to railway stations by bicycle, discouraging thefts of bikes and acts of vandalisms as well as protecting bikes from bad weather. By financing the implementation of this “velostation” we also strengthen our commitment in promoting cycling mobility as a way to halve motorised traffic and improve health and quality of life in our cities”.

 

Author: Raffaele Sforza

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