March 2, 2011 (Seville, Spain) – March 8 marks the centenary of the very first International Women’s Day. Slowly but surely, the results of 100 years’ steady work on women’s rights are becoming visible. In many Western countries the lively and ongoing debate about the under- representation of women in leading positions shows first results. We see women at the forefront in the current wave of liberation that sweeps the Arab world. In Asia, women are becoming more vocal and visible! Women’s Day actually is a public holiday in more than 25 countries including Afghanistan and Russia – in China, Nepal and Madagascar it is even a holiday for women only!

In Seville, from a sustainable mobility perspective – women are also clearly in the lead. To Seville’s women the bicycle has become an essential part of daily life, a reliable substitute for other forms of transportation; within three years the number of women riding a bike has nearly doubled, from a 24% to a 41% share. They ride their bike to get to work, school or university. On the way they drop their children at day care or school, get the shopping done, visit friends or a local café.

The city of Seville’s efforts and investment, especially the fully segregated cycle lane system of more than 120 km in length – enables people to make the switch from the walk, the bus or car to a bicycle.

Today a total of almost 60,000 trips a day are made by bicycle instead of any motorized form of transportation. Especially encouraging is that younger people between 18 – 30 years of age have completely abandoned their cars and opt for the bicycle. With or without public transportation – these new habits in urban mobility clearly show that the efforts by the city of Seville have been met with resounding success.

The majority of new bicycle users indicate economic savings as one of the main reason for changing their mode of transportation – especially those that previously made use of the bus or private car. All new bicycle users report on the extra benefit of timesaving!

Recent statistics show also that ex-car commuters have bought their own bicycle, whereas the former pedestrians or users of public transportation prefer public bicycles.

Currently, two public bicycle-sharing systems are in place in the city of Seville.

One of them is SEVici, provided for by JCDecaux in April 2007. JCDecaux is the largest outdoor advertising company in the world with revenues of *2,350 million ($3,115 million) in 2010. Cyclocity, as the system is generally called is made available to local authorities in exchange for advertising space in the city.

In 2009 the total rental numbers worldwide reached 120 million and Seville’s SEVici program actually shows the highest use with more than 25.000 trips a day of all 67 Cyclocity rental bike locations JCDecaux currently maintains across the world.

SEVici at the moment offers 2500 bicycles distributed over 250 stations. Each station has 10 – 40 parking slots where users can either pick up or park the rental bike. An interactive terminal and the various payment methods make the system so versatile and globally accepted.

The simultaneous development of the BUS+BICI system by the local bus authorities is Seville’s second pillar of success. Free of any charges, the BUS+BICI system provides approximately 180 rental bikes to Seville’s commuters at the Central Bus Station. The project offers a free bike for the day to any bus commuter from the greater metropolitan area of Seville. The system simply requires the commuter to show his or her bus ticket and sign a liability waver at the bus stations pick-up desk.

Since the introduction of BUS+BICI in 2007, the number of users – mostly women who commute to Seville to work or study each day – has tripled! Currently, the books show an astounding 30.000 + rental procedures a year.

In order to further promote, stimulate and convince even more women to change to a new way of mobility a major part of the upcoming Velo-city conference program will highlight Women Specific lectures.

Here are some of the most important sessions by speakers from around the world on gender specific mobility issues.

– The role of Latin-American Women in non-motorised mobility Margarita Arias, Fundación Bici Ñan, Ecuador
– Gendered analysis of bicycling in cities in the developing world Anvita Arora, Innovative Transport Solutions (iTrans), India
– Chic or shame: the visual and cultural representation of women cyclists in southern Africa Gail Jennings, Mobility Magazine South Africa
– Balance on the bike Angela van der Kloof, Mobycon, Netherlands
– Promoting cycling with a group of women in Mexico City Helga Marie González Nieves, Mexico
– Women, city and mobility. Cycling in the cycle of life of women and the city of Quito-Ecuador María Fernanda Porras, Ciclopolis, Ecuador

Please note that the full Velo-city 2011 program is now online here.

This year’s Velo-city Conference will take place in Seville from March 23–25, 2011.

For more information and registration: www.velo-city2011.com