Zero-Emissions Medellin Metro, ‘EnCicla’ Public-Bike Combo Nabs Global Award

The Agency for Cooperation and Investment of Medellin and the Metropolitan Area (ACI) and the Medellin Metro public transit agency announced December 10 that Medellin just won the global “Mobiprize Award” for a novel combination of zero-emissions metro-rail public transport with the growing “EnCicla” public bicycle system.

“This is a recognition that confirms the efforts that the city has made to have a system of inclusive, efficient, integrated transport” that is “friendly to the environment,” according to ACI.

“Medellin again is drawing attention worldwide for its development of multimodal transport,” according to ACI.

Since the launch of the electric Metro-rail system in 1995, Medellin followed that with a growing network of “Metrocable” electric aerial tramways; the “Metroplus” bus-rapid-transit (BRT) network; electric outdoor escalators in the steep “Comuna 13” neighborhood; the new Ayacucho electric roadway tram system; and the growing “EnCicla” public bicycle system, which includes convenient access to free bikes next to Metro stops — and dedicated bikeways throughout the city.

Today, Metro de Medellin transports more than 820,000 people daily via its three railway lines, its aerial tramways and the Metroplús BRT system.

“The public bike system EnCicla has 51 operating stations, more than 30,000 registered users in the system and has reached the figure of 8,000 bike-loans every day,” according to ACI.

According to U.S.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) “Mobi,” Medellin stood-out from global competitors for the prize because of its novel combination of zero-emissions Metro public transport and free bicycles at Metro stations.

The Mobi judging panel was “very impressed with Medellín’s efforts and applauded it for investing in building the New Mobility Industry cluster development around railway technologies and supporting innovative and integrated transportation solutions,” according to the organization. 

The Mobi organization is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Motor Company, NextEnergy, Takata, ICLEI Ecomobility, University of Michigan Mobility Transformation Center (MTC), the ITS World Congress, the Institute for Competitiveness, India, UN Rio+20 and the OECD International Transport Forum, according to the group.