The increase in the number of bicycle trips in Vitoria-Gasteiz and the city's commitment to sustainable mobility made the municipality consider setting up long-term parking solutions for bicycles.

The agency for the integral revitalisation of the historic city of Vitoria-Gasteiz (ARICH) is developing a pilot project to test the feasability of setting up these long-term parking facilities  in basements of municipality-owned houses. Responding to demand from residents, ARICH has studied the possibility of refurbishing basements to be used as parking for bicycles. This initiative is unprecedented in Spain.

In early 2009, the first of these bike parkings was opened in 81Cuchillería Street. Its 43 users form a community that is organised and financed independently, similar as any residents' association. The city owns the basement which is assigned by ARICH free of charge to the community of users for the purpose of bicycle parking.

Recently, developments in 47 Nueva Dentro Street have concluded, which will soon provide space for 39 users with some bikes to be stored hanging from the wall. The constructions included electrical installations, removing architectural barriers to facilitate access and internal circulation, as well as the installation of toilets, lockers and bike racks.

Besides offering a solution to residents who live in small apartments and have no room to store their bikes safely, these bicycle parkings will also strengthen the relationship between residents as they manage the facilities. This will have positive impacts on the atmosphere in the neighbourhood, a key objective of the plan to revitalise the historic city centre.

If the evaluation of the pilot project is positive, the council will extend the initiative to the entire city.

Find images of the first basement parking facility here and here.

As part of this agreement, the Centre for Environmental Studies of Vitoria Gasteiz (CEA) and HIRIKO will develop activities aimed at changing urban behaviour, namely to decrease the use of conventional cars and promote public transport.

The agreement makes the HIRIKO project a partner in the "European Green Capital" activities of Vitoria-Gasteiz.  HIRIKO will help to raise awareness, promote and support the initiative.

HIRIKO is an innovative electric car. It's a two-seater with drive and four-wheel steering that folds once it is parked. The car was developed in Vitoria-Gasteiz by a consortium of companies grouped around AFYPAIDA: Guardian, Sapa, TMA, Forging Products, BRW-Basque Robot Wheels, Ingeinnova and Maser Mic, all coordinated by DENOKINN.

After signing the collaboration agreement, Javier Maroto, mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz said: "We must take every opportunity to promote our city, and there is no better place to do so than on board this electric vehicle that set Vitoria-Gasteiz in the select group of Smart Cities, which apply the latest technologies for sustainable, social and cooperative development."

On 24 January 2012, President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso presented the first prototype of this vehicle at the headquarters of the presidency of the European Commission. President Barroso referred to this car as an example of social innovation. "This project is an important part of the response to the crisis in Europe", said the president of the EU executive. He pointed out that the birth of HIRIKO has been possible thanks in part to European funding by the European Social Fund.

Jesús Echave, president of HIRIKO, said in his presentation: "This is our proposal for the design of what the cities of the 21st century should be like: more human, more comfortable and more committed to the environment. I am convinced that Vitoria-Gasteiz, our Green Capital, will be one of them. We want to contribute to this through the development of this vehicle."

The City Council is going to start an information and awareness campaign to discourage private cars to access to central superblock. The campaign will start just after Easter by sending a personalised letter to all car users who are making inappropriate use of that space.

The access to this area is in fact limited to emergency and service vehicles, cars accessing or leaving garages and vehicles carrying out loading and unloading procedures.

“We want to eliminate unwanted traffic little by little by establishing a set of disincentives,” said the Councillor for the Environment, Idoia Garmendia.

The measure tries to avoid passing traffic in Magdalena, Prado, Virgen Blanca, Mateo Moraza, Olaguibel, Fueros, General Alava and Cadena y Eleta streets. The City Council has installed five cameras that control both the access and exit of cars within the superblock. Using an algorithm, cameras detect if the passing vehicle is trying to shortcut or if it is a driver who goes to the garage or it is a delivery truck.

"In the political and technical committee for mobility we have decided to promote this campaign under the CIVITAS project and Mobility Plan," said Garmendia. According to a study done in recent months, the Consistory has detected about 400 inappropriate daily entries to the area.

The Councillor has confirmed that. "The campaign does not have tax collection effort. It simply responds to the proposals of the Mobility Plan and seeks to enforce a measure proposed as a development of the Plan. We hope this campaign will be successful enough and that the penalties will be minimal," assured Garmendia.

Sharing the same hope, we think that this information campaign has a great chance to be successful!

Registration to ECOMM 2011 is open until the 2nd of May 2011. You can register via http://www.ecomm2011.eu/en/informations

Here you find information about the registration fees.