Get on your bike

Madrid bike scheme faces uphill battle

The Spanish capital is seeking to match rival Barcelona, as well as Paris and London, by providing hundreds of bicycles for public hire — with the added feature of electric motors to help riders up slopes.

The self-service stands that will hold the 1,500 electric bicycles started appearing around the centre of the Spanish capital this week, but the planned May 1st start has been pushed back to an unconfirmed date.

Source: The Local.es

 

 

 

 

Vocabulary:

 

to face (a problem) -

 

an uphill battle/struggle -

 

to provide -

 

a slope -

 

a (bike) stand -

 

to push back (a date) -

 

to shake (shook, shaken) -

 

narrow (adj) -

 

to knock sb down -

 

a passerby -

 

to set stg up -

 

a city hall -

 

awareness (n) -

 

to be keen to do stg -

 

reluctant (adj) -

 

due to (= because of) -

 

a lack of stg -

 

a cycle lane -

 

so-called -

 

to crack down on stg -

 

to lack -

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever used a bike to get around Madrid? What was your experience?

 

Would you use one on a regular basis?