Governments have historically subsidized the purchase of a new car with the Renove plan and its successors. Aid for motorcycles has also been consistent. However, the bicycle has too often been left out despite its growing role in urban mobility.
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The Barcelona City Council is now taking a significant step in this regard and plans to launch aid worth up to 400 euros for all residents who buy an urban electric or folding bike. The subsidy will increase to 800 euros for cargo bikes, according to the Bike Agenda 2026-2030 accessed by La Vanguardia.
The municipal government expects to approve the subsidy guidelines before the end of the year and launch the call in the first quarter of 2027. All purchases made from the moment the guidelines are approved will be eligible for the aid, which will have an annual budget of one million euros, allowing more than 2,000 beneficiaries each year.
The intention is to maintain the financial aid for the next four years to boost sustainable mobility. “We want to create all the conditions to increase bike use,” says the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, who highlights how the electric bike “allows covering longer distances, slopes, and thus becoming a mobility alternative for many people.”
The latest study by the Bicycle Club of Catalonia (BACC), carried out with the support of the City Council, points out that electric bike users (46%) already outnumber traditional mechanical bike users (35%) on the bike lanes of the Catalan capital. The upward trend of assisted pedaling – also driven by Bicing – is taking ground from electric scooters, which are losing presence after years of rapid growth.
The Ministry of Transport still needs to shape similar aid
Bike purchase subsidies, like those for cars, are not a new invention. The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) was a pioneering institution in mobility in the previous decade, when Antonio Poveda was in charge. At that time, it promoted a similar initiative with aid of 250 euros for the purchase of an electric bike between 2014 and 2018. Some municipalities continued it locally in subsequent years.
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The Ministry of Transport, for its part, approved a Royal Decree early last year that included the creation of aid for the purchase of electric bikes but it has not yet come to fruition. In March this year, they opened a prior public consultation and to this day it is still unknown when, how, and for what amount the aid will finally be issued.
The municipal government will accompany the measure with a pilot test of paid secure parking
In any case, an electric bike also means a higher investment by the buyer – it is hard to find one under 1,000 euros – and therefore a higher risk of theft. The municipal government wants to address this problem by betting on secure bike parking. The expansion of the successful Bicibox, established in the metropolitan area, is ruled out in Barcelona – demonstrating yet another dysfunction between the capital and neighboring cities – although the municipal government’s proposal is very similar to what the AMB has been applying recently.
The plan involves enabling closed parking with video surveillance systems in vacant ground floors or underused spaces of municipal facilities located near public transport stations or areas with a high density of offices and shops. A first pilot test will start before the end of this year in a location yet to be determined. It will be expanded to one in each district throughout next year, and the idea of those responsible for the municipal bike strategy is to grow and expand throughout the city depending on the results.
The major public transport interchanges will be some of those secured locations already included on the map. At Sants station, the first large parking of this type with space for about 160 bikes is already planned, coinciding with the renovation of the decaying bus station. In parallel, they want to expand the street parking in the form of inverted U racks. The municipal government’s goal is to almost double the current 45,954, reaching 82,000 in ten years with no theoretical growth limit.
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