EMEL will electrify 400 "classic" GIRAs and make two bicycle paths in 2023

EMEL will repair and electrify 400 "classic" GIRA bicycles (i.e., without electric assistance), which you have lying around the workshopand put them back into circulation as early as 2023 (the company says it is looking for "a partner for repair and simultaneous electrification"). With this measure and the purchase of 500 new bicycles, all electric, EMEL hopes to double the availability of GIRA bicycles on the street next year.

Between 500 new bicycles and 400 electrified ones, we are talking about 900 more bicycles in the GIRA network by 2023 - The number is slightly below the 1000 bikes that had been announced by the Alderman of Finance, Filipe Anacoreta Correia, in the presentation of the general lines of the Municipal Budget for 2023. In any case, the addition of 900 bicycles to the network already means, effectively, a doubling of the fleet in availability, as promised by Anacoreta Correia.

"EMEL has very concrete plans for this to happen as soon as possible, and the procedure for the acquisition of another 2,000 bicycles (all electric, in line with the preferences demonstrated by users) is already underway, 500 of which will be available next year. In parallel, a partner is being sought for the repair and simultaneous electrification of 400 bicycles that are in the workshop - with these two measures it will be possible to double, as early as 2023, the fleet available."

- EMEL's PAO for 2023-2026

EMEL says workshop can't do it anymore

Although EMEL has about 1600 GIRAs in its possession, the truth is that there are usually between 800 and 900 bicycles in circulation. The rest of the vehicles are stationary, in the workshop. In its Activity and Budget Plan (PAO) for 2023-2026, the municipal company acknowledges the problem: "EMEL planned the [bicycle] purchases so that the fleet on hand would be sufficient to ensure the reliability and convenience of the system"the document reads. “What EMEL failed to ensure was the dimensioning of the workshopso that the repair effort would be sufficient to meet the needs of a system that, thanks to its success, poses great challenges at this level: with the current fleet it has already been possible to have almost 1,100 bicycles available for use, but currently only a great effort from the team allows the availability to approach 900 vehicles.”

In other words, no more repairs can be done in the GIRA workshop than are currently done to increase the effective availability of bicycles on the street. EMEL says "is in progress" the recruitment of more people for the workshop and that it is also reviewing its "compensation policy" so that the people it hires will want to stay. In this field, EMEL explains that "prevailing wage grid" has led to "a high turnover within the team that ensures the system support operations, especially in the workshop area"so "is looking at how best to align its remuneration policy with the needs that are being expressed".

EMEL's Activity and Budget Plan (PAO) for 2023-2026 is the document that says what the municipal mobility company intends to do, what revenues it expects, and where it expects to have expenses. This document is prepared by EMEL's Board of Directors - now chaired by Carlos Silva - and presented to the Lisbon City Council executive. Together with the PAOs of the other municipal companies and the municipality's own budget, it is discussed and voted on by the councilors before going to the Municipal Assembly. At the City Council meeting last Wednesday, November 30th, where the Municipal Budget was approved, the PABs of the five companies owned by the City Council were also approved, including EMEL's.

O EMEL's PAO for 2023-2026 is particularly exhaustive about GIRAIn the course of six pages, it provides a diagnosis and status report on Lisbon's bike-sharing system, launched in 2017/18 (you can read it in full at the end of the article).

300 stations and 3000 bicycles by 2026

GIRA currently has 139 active stations and 1600 theoretical bicycles, and it can be said that the first phase of the system, which foresaw 140 stations and 1410 bicycles and had as its first date October 2017. Efforts are now focused on the second phase, whose ambition is to reach 300 stations and 3000 bicycles by 2026leading to the network covering all parishes of the city. EMEL believes it is possible to reach these numbers "with defined procurement planning and a greater ability to attract and retain technicians for the teams involved in system operations". Regarding acquisitions, the company says it is "The procedure for the acquisition of another 2,000 bicycles (all electric, meeting the preferences shown by users) is already underway500 of them already next year"..

As for stations, EMEL's PAO is not detailed, but the Alderman of Finance had announced 29 new in 2023of which nine will be stations that are already installed in the field but yet to be opened and 20 will be effectively new stations. In total, Filipe Anacoreta Correia announced a investment of three million euros by the Lisbon City Hall (through EMEL, of course) in GIRA in 2023, an increase of 50% compared to this year. In EMEL's PAO, those accounts are hard to confirm - not least because you don't know what was integrated into that cake - but EMEL's budget sheet affects a figure close to two million directly to GIRA: 490 thousand euros for new stations e 1,125,000 for new bicycles, 50,000 for the electrical branch lines that allow the stations to operate, and 273,000 for bicycle repair and replacement.

Bicycle path on Avenida Egas Moniz advances

By 2022, the pace of cycling infrastructure construction has slowed considerably compared to previous yearsbut this may change slightly in 2023. With the Moedas' proposal for the Avenida Almirante Reis bicycle path cancelledwas built only one bicycle path in the Bela Vista and Chelas areasIt is integrated in a green corridor project. However, it opened a bicycle path next to the future Urban Park of Pontinha (commonly known as "Feira Popular") e another one near the Gare do Oriente, connecting the avenues of Padua and Berlin. And EMEL has under construction a cyclopedestrian bridge at the mouth of the Trancão riverwhich should be ready next year in time for World Youth Day.

At the same time, in 2022, it was awarded the promised LNEC audit to the axis of Avenida Almirante Reis/Rua da Palmabetween Areeiro and Martim Moniz; and the launching of a tender for the audit of the remaining cycling network is still pending - only after this assessment will the executive led by Moedas present a plan to expand the network and start putting it into practice. This willingness to audit first and do it later put in the back of the drawer all the bike path projects that could possibly peek out. This was the case of bicycle path on Avenida Egas Monizthat would connect the existing bike paths on Combatentes and Lusíada avenuesThe contract was awarded in early January 2022.

However, between a review of the initially planned project and future audits, no bike lane went forward. However, EMEL states in its Activity and Budget Plan (PAO) that "for next year, and under the financial coverage of the Mandate Contract, the company will continue with projects already committed to or awarded, such as the bridge on Avenida Gago Coutinho or the roadway on Avenida Professor Egas Moniz and Avenida de Pádua". In other words, the commitments made will see the light of day, despite the promised audit.

The bike path on Avenida de Pádua is a second phase of the infrastructure that already exists on a section of this artery; you can see the project here. For its part, the cyclopedestrian bridge on Avenida Gago Coutinho is one project which, for pedestrians and cyclists, will help overcome a gap between those coming from Avenida do Brasil and those heading to Olivais/Bela Vista, through the vineyards, and will also consist of a green bridge with trees and a garden.

In the PAO, EMEL writes that Lisbon has seen over the last years "to a heated debate around the emerging densification of the bikeway network" that serves the county and identifies that "much of the discussion stems from the unavoidable scarcity of public space, whose allocation to the car has assumed such proportions that it leads the analysis of more equitable redistributions to zero-sum perspectives: what is implemented in favor of cycling or pedestrian mode is almost always conquered to the car".

"If the projects developed, to a large extent, validate, a priori, this perspective, the truth is that a good cycling network, reticulated and with continuity, can help a growth of the cycling mode to such an extent that it is no longer necessary such a disproportionate allocation of public space to the infrastructure that enables the use of the private car."EMEL adds. The municipal company also recognizes that the pace of expansion of the cycling network has been slow, but that the existing infrastructure has allowed for an increase in safe bicycle use in the city:

"If this is the rationale behind the expansion of the cycling network that the city has sought in recent years, the reality reveals very complex obstacles to overcome and the pace at which new lanes are being built, despite the capacity that EMEL has managed to develop in this regard, is too slow to see all the benefits that come after the inconvenience associated with construction and after the effort to accommodate automobile trafficbut today there is a much more convenient cycling network in Lisbon than the one that existed only a few years ago and that, at least, has allowed the exponential growth of the cycling mode not to translate into a minimally proportional increase in accidents.”

- EMEL's PAO for 2023-2026

EMEL's new bicycle lanes map

EMEL publishes, in the PAO, the following map of defined bike lanes. The three above mentioned projects are identified in green: Avenida Egas Moniz, Gago Coutinho cycling bridge and the conclusion of Avenida de Pádua. The Trancão cycling bridge, a work in progress, is mapped in red. YellowThe projects already elaborated but in drawer are pointed out, such as:

• a bicycle path in César de Oliveira Streetin Lumiar. It has come to be in public tender by EMEL, but this procedure has since been cancelled. This bike path would pass through a street behind the Air Force Hospital and the Telheiras Shopping Center, connecting the northern part of Telheiras to the Paço do Lumiar and Pingo Doce areas;
• a bicycle path on Álvaro Pais Avenuewhich would connect the Entrecampos train station and Avenida 5 de Outubro to the upper part, where the University City begins;
• a connection between the bike path on Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa and Alameda dos Oceanosin Parque das Nações, which was never executed;
• a bicycle path in Calhariz de Benfica Roadwhich would make the Radial and Camping Park bike paths more accessible, while creating a new green pedestrian corridor.

In pink, are the projects in the pipeline for four inter-municipal bike paths:

• the axis Restelo-Algéswhich includes bike lanes on the Avenida da Índia and Avenida das Descobertas, and will connect to Oeiras in the maritime area of Algés;
• the axis Lumiar-OdivelasThe project has already been partly developed;
• the axis Benfica-AmadoraThe bike path from Rua Conde de Almoster will continue along Rua da Venezuela, connecting to the planned Calhariz de Benfica bike path;
• the axis Olivais-Moscavidethrough the Rotunda Matilde Bensaúde and Estrada da Circunvalação.

(The intercity bikeways project includes five axes. The fifth is the only one already in progress: it consists of the Parque das Nações-Sacavém axis and includes the Trancão bridge).

In white, a first sketch of the continuous riverside bicycle path that Moedas wants to create connecting Algés to Parque das Nações - this uninterrupted bike lane was one of the election promises of the current mayor. The route of this track, which will take advantage of existing infrastructure and eliminate existing interruptions, will now be studied by EMEL. In early September, it had already come to light through the Written Information from the President delivered to the Municipal Assembly that this riverside bike path project had begun to be worked on by the city services, starting with the definition of the strategy and the identification of the discontinuous points in the current connection.

City Council also looked at the bicycle

City services have also been working on other cycling infrastructure projects, whether or not in conjunction with EMEL. In the most recent Written Information from the Presidentdelivered in November to the Assembly, other news has emerged. To wit:

• was made a proposal of vertical and horizontal signaling on the bike path between Avenida Cidade do Porto and Avenida de Berlim (This bike path has never had signage until today);
• was made a proposal for the bicycle path on Avenida de Berna as an alternative to the existing one;
• was made a improvement proposal for the Alameda das Linhas de Torres bicycle path;
• were evaluated bicycle path projects for Calçada de Carriche, Estrada da Circunvalação, Avenida D. Vasco da Gama and Portas de Benfica (some of these links are integrated in the inter-municipal axes project);
• was analyzed the connection between the planned bike path on Rua César de Oliveira and the existing bike path on Avenida das Nações Unidas.

The Lisbon City Hall has budgeted, through EMEL, an investment of close to 6.9 million euros for the cycling network in 2023. The bridge over Avenida Almirante Gago Coutinho will be the most expensive infrastructure, costing about 2.6 million eurosThe bike path on Egas Moniz had been adjudicated for 234.8 thousand Euros and the one on Avenida de Pádua for 234.8 thousand Euros. 144.8 thousand. For the maintenance of already existing bike lanes, EMEL has 500 thousand euros set aside -. we're talking about projects like the one underway in Sete Rios, at an intersection.

You can read below the excerpt from EMEL's PAO for 2023-2026 about "sustainable mobility", chapter where GIRA is included. The entire document, along with the Municipal Budget and the PAOs of other municipal companies, will be discussed and voted on this week in plenary at the Lisbon Municipal Assembly.