MADRID, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The Madrid City Hall (Ayuntamiento de Madrid) has confirmed that its municipal bike share system 'BiciMAD' will reopen for public use on Wednesday.
The service has been closed since the State of Alarm and the corresponding lockdown came into effect in March.
However, following the decision of the government to allow a partial return to work in Spain on April 13, there have been calls for the service to be opened up as an alternative to the public metro system.
Pro-cycling groups argue that cycling is currently a far safer way of traveling than by metro or bus as it virtually guarantees social distancing requirements of maintaining two meters between people.
The Madrid City Hall has published in its official bulletin that the 2,220 bicycles in BiciMAD, which are parked at over 160 different bays throughout the city center, will be back in use from 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
Half of the bicycles will be available on Wednesday morning with the remaining going into service in the coming days after they have been disinfected. Users of the system will be "obliged to wear gloves and to follow the recommendations of hygiene and social distancing recommended by health authorities."
The City Hall added that all of the parking stations will be "disinfected every night" in order to further reduce the risk of infection.
The region of Madrid has been the hardest hit by the pandemic with 7,460 people losing their lives from 57,997 confirmed infection cases, according to data published by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare on Tuesday. Enditem
