Milan and Florence launch free floating bicycles

The free floating bikes can be picked up by unlocking the bike via a dedicated App for smartphones and left at the end of use. Fares are popular: 0,30c for 30 minutes.

Bicycles can be parked along the edges of the streets where there is no 'no parking' sign or ban, and at all bike racks in the city: over 670 bike racks exist for a total of 8,300 places (in stalls or racks) spread across the city.

About a 1,000 more places have already been planned by the city and will be completed by the end of this year. Over 400 places will be dedicated exclusively to free-flowing bicycles and will be located throughout the city's hot spots.

Florence has deployed as well 4,000 dockelss bikes. Bike can be loeft in the street after use, However, the local authority has identified a number of spaces reserved for bike sharing. In total, in this first phase, there are about 130 areas identified by special signposts, mainly located within the inner city, and some are in the outskirts.

Milan City Council news (IT): http://comune.milano.it/wps/portal/ist/it/news/primopiano/Tutte_notizie/mobilita_ambiente_energia/bike_sharing_free_floating_bis

Some images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/comune_milano/sets/72157685679998270/

Florence City Council news (IT): http://www.comune.fi.it/export/sites/retecivica/comune_firenze/ultime_notizie/e0362.html