Bicing workers end strike after reaching pre-agreement over conditions

Bicing workers ended an eight-day strike on Tuesday after reaching a preliminary agreement on economic compensation with the company's management.

Service will resume to normal on Wednesday.

For more than a week, Barcelona's city bike sharing scheme has been in operation, but workers have not collected bikes at stations to free up space or brought other bikes to empty stations to ensure availability. The company had advised users to seek other means of transport. 

Workers will get an increase in pay of €4,000 over the next five years, while there will be a bonus of €900 euros for drivers, as well as improvements in night shift pay and a holiday bonus.

Regarding the social part of the agreement, workers' representatives opened negotiations with the management on aspects such as the number of hours that must be worked per week and weekend shift rotations, among others.

Fleet expansion 

Last week, Bicing announced an expansion of the bicycle fleet, with 1,000 more electric bicycles and 74 new stations in the network, at a cost of €2.8 million. 

Once expanded, the service will have 8,000 bicycles (5,000 electric) and 593 stations. 

Barcelona City Council indicates that by the end of 2023, the scheme will have had 147,000 subscribers and 18 million uses throughout the year. 

The new stations will be located in various parts of the city where demand is greatest, including Eixample and Sant Martí. They will be installed gradually throughout the course of 2024, beginning with eight locations in Montjuïc. 

According to the city council, no other city in Europe has a higher density of shared bike stations per square kilometer than Barcelona.