As part of our work to help cycling and the bike industry into the world of smart, connected and shared mobility we are working with visionaries and leaders who are setting the tone in this new mobility. We are going to be inviting some of them to share their thoughts and visions with ECF.com in the coming months. 

Marta Recasens Alsina is CEO and Co-Founder at Vadecity and VadebikeBcn. She started her start-up Vadecity to offer smart solution to the needs of citizens in emerging cities. The core of her project is VadebikeBcn, an intelligent system of safe and sustainable bike parking in Barcelona. 

Bike theft: a long term issue

Thefts of bicycles in Barcelona remain a problem. The Catalan police recognizes that bicycles are objects so desired by thieves, that they even climb up facades to steal them. The figures* highlight that 44% of cyclists have been victims of theft and 64.2% say that they have stopped using their bicycle for fear of it being stolen.

In recent years, bicycle use has become widespread. Citizens increasingly use it as a means of transport, in addition to having a boom in sports activities with tourism. The downside is that selling stolen bikes is still a business.

By the police, little can be done against urban bicycle thefts. However, institutions still recommend that we travel on foot, by public transport or by bike, but the danger of having your bicycle stolen at any point undermines this move in the right direction, as I had to experience first-hand.

Yes, it happened to me too. I was robbed of my bike, almost in front of my eyes. I didn’t have time to run, but I had the time to feel powerlessness, exasperation and rage beyond limits. Because that was my bike, my "Cleta" my whole life. It was the bicycle that had taken me to the institute where I studied BUP, which had taken me to the beach with my first girlfriend and which even helped me transport models to the Faculty of Architecture.

Designed to endure, connectivity-ready

Triggered by this incident a few years ago, I began to foster the idea of ​​creating a system that would prevent the theft of all the Cletas that people own. An easy, safe and intelligent system that even allows to secure the helmet. A private bicycle parking service that would be born with the aim of revolutionizing mobility in the city.

I started conducting studies and developing the first models when one day it came to me. When I put the helmet on the bicycle, I looked at the shape formed by the helmet on top of the seat, and it was then that I knew, that I had found the structure of the design. 

All Vadebike stations are real-time connected. The users have an app, from where they can register and consult their movements. The data collected is used to monitor the system, highlight times and locations with increased activity and generally serves to adapt the service to the needs of cyclists and the city. 

The project got the support of the European Commission, having been recognized as an outstanding project in the Commission's incubator programme H2020 SME phase 1 and phase 2. This is triggering an expansion of the service of up to 500 new spaces. As of now, there are already 150 secured, connected bike parking facilities across the entire city.

Towards an integrated future

The European funding also allows to close strategic partnerships with other agents of the city. The next steps include developing a system capable of integrating different networks of secure bicycle parking in the same platform, the SMART BIKING platform.

Thanks to the collaboration of the Barcelona City Council, public transport operators such as Railway of the Generalitat of Catalunya (FGC); universities such as the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and La Salle; shopping centers, Vadebike will develop integrated networks of safe bicycle parking all accessible via the SMART BIKING app and system. Each partner will benefit from belonging to a larger network and users will have a unique platform of well-distributed parking lots to satisfy the high demand of secure bicycle parking currently registered in the city of Barcelona.