Konya Municipality to start ‘smart bicycle’ system

Konya Mayor Tahir Akyürek has unveiled a unique plan for a public bicycle transportation system to be put in place in the municipality in 2010.

The new public transportation system will enable members of the public to use a special card to check out a bicycle at one station and check it back in at any other station. Speaking with the Anatolia news agency, Akyürek noted that bicycles were more widely used in Konya than any other Turkish province and so it followed naturally for bicycles to be introduced into the public transportation grid there.

A tender for the "smart bicycle" project has already been completed, and the project will go into operation in one year. Expected to cost 8 million to 10 million euros, the project will be a proud first for Turkey, the mayor said. "Forty bicycle stations will be established along the tram and main bus lines," he said. "In the project's first phase, 500 bicycles will be available for use."

Akyürek emphasized that the integrated system will allow bikers to pick up their bicycles at one station and drop them off at another. "The bicycles will be tracked through a GPRS system. When the number of bicycles at a given station falls to a particular level, station attendants will automatically be notified, and they will bring more bikes to that station."

The need to use private vehicles to travel to public transportation stations will be greatly reduced by the availability of bicycles, the mayor added. "For those who have errands to run or grocery shopping to do, they can drop off their bicycles at the same place they picked them up after completing their chores," he said. "This system, which will be Turkey's first, will both ease transportation in the city and decrease pollution from car exhaust because less people will be using their own vehicles."

Public bicycle systems like the one planned for Konya are already in use in cities such as Paris and Barcelona, the mayor said. "We also want to get our people used to riding bicycles; to do so will also be taking a step toward healthier lifestyles for our citizens," he said. "We have no doubt that the project will see great interest. We will be making the modern, state-of-the-art transportation system in Konya a bit more comfortable."