Riding nowhere

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Public bike rental inauguration falls flat

Technical glitches hinder a service that Madrid City Hall had been promising since 2009

Technical glitches put a damper on the inauguration of Madrid’s public rental bike service on Monday.

The BiciMad network has 1,560 electric bicycles scattered across 123 docking stations within the city center. Yet the only bikes that actually circulated through the streets of the capital were the 70 units that the city lent reporters, cycling associations and experts for the day.

Today is the day,” said Mayor Ana Botella on Monday morning, as she became one of the first people to pedal from City Hall to Retiro Park. “Madrid is inaugurating its public bicycles.” 
 But the truth is, many stations were still not operational, while others did not have bicycles. At other stations, customers found blocked screens when they attempted to purchase the membership card that is required to use the service. The screens that did appear to work were extremely slow, and ultimately also froze up before completing the customer’s request. 

Bonopark, the company that was awarded the city contract to run the network, told EL PAÍS that the “huge” demand from users had affected its computers and slowed them down. “We are working to get that fixed,” said a spokesperson, without offering a date. The Navarre-based company will receive €25 million from the city of the Madrid over the next decade. 

City sources said that around 600 people had registered throughout the morning. By the end of the day there were more than 1,000, according to Bonopark, which did not specify what volume its computers are prepared to deal with. 

Madrid has a population of 3,215,633. Bicycle use has tripled since 2006, although it still represents less than one percent of all trips on wheels. 

The plan to bring public rental bikes to Madrid had been announced by former mayor (and current justice minister) Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón in 2009, but delays kept pushing it back. While the city has joined the game late, it is still aiming for a record: to be the first European capital with a system based on electric bikes. 

Public rental bikes were “the missing piece of the puzzle” in Madrid’s urban mobility policy, according to Botella, who described the computerized registration system as “easy, intuitive and very easy to use.” 

On day one of the service, however, it was anything but tha

  
Vocabulary:

to fall flat -

a glitch -

to put a damper on stg -

to scatter -

a docking station -

to purchase (v/n) -

a membership card -

to freeze (froze, frozen) -

a request (v/n) -

to award -

to run (a business) -

to slow down -

to fix -

a spokesperson -

a source -

according to sb/stg -

to deal with stg/sb -

former (adj) -

a mayor -

current (adj) -

a delay -

to push stg back -

to aim for stg -

to be anything but -
  
 
 
You couldn't make it up.
  

Source: You Tube (shizuku027) Key words: Queen Bicycle Race  
 
Queen - Bicycle Race

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

You say black I say white
You say bark I say bite
You say shark I say hey man
Jaws *was never my scene
And I don't like Star Wars
You say Rolls I say Royce
You say God give me a choice
You say Lord I say Christ
I don't *believe in Peter Pan
Frankenstein or Superman
All I *wanna do is

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my

Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls they'll be riding today
So look out for those beauties oh yeah
*On your marks get set go
Bicycle race bicycle race bicycle race

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle
Bicycle bicycle bicycle
Bicycle race

You say coke I say caine
You say John I say Wayne
Hot dog I say cool it man
I don't wanna be the President of America
You say smile I *say cheese
Cartier I say please
Income tax I say Jesus
I don't wanna be a candidate for
Vietnam or Watergate
*Cause all I wanna do is

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

*It's not my scene = It's not my style = I'm not interested in it at all.

*believe stg / sb
I believe you = I think you are telling the truth.
I believed what he said = I trusted him. I thought what he said was true.
*believe in stg / sb
Do you believe in God? = Do you believe God exists?
I don't believe in ghosts = I don't believe ghosts exist.

*wanna = want to (never write this)

*On your marks / Ready! Steady! Go! - said to athletes at the start of a race.

*Say cheese - said when taking a photo, it's time to smile.

*Cause = because. (Never write it)

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