Moscow opens first bike-sharing network

One of the world's least cycle-friendly cities, Moscow, will on Saturday launch its first bicycle sharing scheme allowing residents to pedal around for free and escape the traffic gridlock.

The scheme, similar to those already in place in cities such as London and Paris, will start on a modest scale with 1,000 bicycles placed at 50 stands around the city centre.

"This gives us hope that civilisation is coming to our city," said Sergei Yakobson, who runs a website that urges people to ditch cars for the saddle.

"If 15 percent of drivers used the system this summer, we would breathe more easily in Moscow," said the president of the Federation of Russian Car-Owners, Sergei Kanayev.

On Tverskoi Bulvar in central Moscow, on the eve of the scheme's launch, the bright-red bikes in racks were attracting plenty of attention.

"The idea is great, especially the first free half-hour and the second half-hour for 30 rubles ($1). But the city is not designed for cycling. It will be dangerous as soon as you get out of the small quiet streets and find yourself in the snarled traffic," said Alyona, 22, a medical student.

The city is severely lacking in cycle paths and most cyclists stay on the pavements.

Moscow city hall has announced that it will develop a total of 131 kilometres (81 miles) of cycle paths by the end of this year, a tiny figure compared with other large cities.

New York has more than 1,100 kilometres (684 miles) of cycle paths while Stockholm has 760 kilometres (472 miles), Berlin has 620 kilometres and Paris has 440 kilometres.

"We lack cycle paths in Moscow. If the bike-sharing scheme works, it will be outside the city centre," said Zinaida Azarenkova, an expert at the Central Institute of Town-Planning in Moscow.

"The centre is packed with vehicles and there is not a single cycle path."

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in October that the priority to increase bike use in Moscow was not to lay out more cycle paths, however, but to increase the number of bike racks and cycle-hire businesses.

The first bike-sharing stands will open on the "Boulevard Ring," a tree-lined pedestrian strip that runs round the city centre and is safe for cyclists.

The scheme is set to expand to 120 stands and around 1,700 bicycles by the end of July.

The bike-sharing stands are set to close in late October, but could stay open in winter if there are enough people who are keen to cycle in snow and ice and temperatures plunging to -30 degrees celsius.

"If there is demand, we will continue in the winter months," said the deputy mayor in charge of transport, Maxim Liksutov.