Cycling in Madrid
The city of Madrid has been increasing in the last years its network of bicycle paths. In 2016, there were 195 km of cycling routes. The former city council had been planning to build 400 km more for the year 2024 despite a very vocal opposition to the construction of segregated infrastructure by a significant part of the local cycling community. However now with the new right wing mayor elected in 2019 the city is set to be the only capital in the world where bicycle lanes are being removed again. Cycling by-laws. Madrid's cycling  law was approved by the council of Madrid 5 October 2018. This law introduced several changes in all the city of Madrid, some of them modifying the previous status of the bicycle. The most important changes were: Infrastructure. In Spain's Spanish, all kind of bicycle infrastructure segregated from cars are called informally "carril bici", which means bicycle lane. The Madrid's sustainable mobility law defines 8 types of bicycle ways. Nevertheless, other argue that there are up to 16 types of bikeways in Madrid. Shared lanes. Car-shared lanes are lanes marked with shared-lane markings or sharrows. In  Spanish there are called "ciclocarril". This kind of infrastructure is marked with the drawing of a bicycle on the pavement and two "corporal" arrows (chevrons) that spans all the width of the lane. This is by far the most usual kind of infrastructure that can be found in Madrid and defining of the character or cycling in the city. This lane has a speed limit of 30 km/h (20 mph) and is marked on the road, except in one lane streets, because in Madrid street with only one lane in a direction are de facto limited to 30 km /h(18 mph). Sidewalk cycle-path. This is a bicycle path at the same level of the sidewalk. In Spanish is called "acera-bici". This means that the segregation between pedestrians and cyclists doesn't exist or there is a difference of less than 3 cm(1.18 in) between the height of the cycleway and the pavement. In this kind of infrastructure, cyclists must yield to pedestrians when crossing transversely the cycleway. There is a speed limit of 10 km/h(6 mph) to cyclist. Examples of sidewalk cycle-paths can be found in O'Donnell Street or Serrano Street. Bicycle lane. This is  a lane of the road that can be only used by bicycles. In Spanish is called "carril-bici". It can have rumble strips as lane line. Examples of this type of infrastructure can be found at Toledo Street, Alcalá Street, Mayor Street, Oporto Avenue or Mayorazgo Avenue. There are also some bicycle lanes that run between a bus lane and other lanes, as in Carranza Street, Atocha Street or Gran Vía. Protected bicycle lane. This is also a lane of the road than can be only used by bicycle, but is protected with parked vehicles, bollards, kerbs or armadillos. It  is called "carril-bici protegido" in Spanish. This bicycle infrastructure can be found in Santa Engracia Street, Camino de los Vinateros, Chopera Promenade or Francisco Largo Caballero Street. Shared-use paths. Shared-use paths, which are calle "senda-bici" in Spanish, are ways for pedestrians and cycles that run through open spaces, parks, gardens or forests, separated from road with motorized traffic. In those paths pedestrians have always priority and cyclists have a speed limit of 20 km/h(12 mph). Usually, if not marked by a sign, all parks with paved paths of more than 3m(9 ft 10in) are  considered shared use paths. If there are a lot of crowding and no separation between bicycles and pedestrians, maximum speed will be 5 km/h(3 mph). In forest zones and suburban parks, bicycles can ride through inner paths. The most important shared-use path is Madrid Río, a park located in the banks of the Manzanares River and opened in 2011. Cyclestreet. A cyclestreet is a street exclusive or preferential for bicycles in both ways. If other vehicles can access to this street, they must be explicitly authorized by a signal. As of 2019, the only cyclestreet in Madrid is  at Puerta del Sol. Bicycle path. A bicycle path are a cycleway that has its own platform, segregated both from the road and the pavement. This is called in Spanish "pista bici". This segregations must be accomplished by a 3 cm(1.18 in) difference in height between the pavement and the cycleway (the law doesn't say anything about the difference in height between the road and the cycleway) or by a continuous segregation. Some examples of bicycle paths are in some sections of the Complutense Avenue, in some sections of Anillo Verde Ciclista and in the Juan Antonio Vallejo-Nájera  Botas Promenade. Advanced stop lights. Advances stop line are road markings near junction lights with the pictogram of a bicycle and a motorbike. Both cyclists and motorcyclists may use it. Advanced stop lines in Madrid doesn't have a feeder lane, so cyclists have to filter through cars in order to arrive there. However, if there is a bus lane, it is allowed to cyclists to use it to arrive at the front. BiciMAD. BiciMAD is a public service of bicycle-sharing. It began operations in 2014 and it comprises with 123 stations and 1580 bicycles. Bicycle Racing. La Vuelta  a España, Spain's most popular cycling competition, always ends in Madrid. Section::::"Anillo Verde Ciclista". The "Anillo Verde Ciclista" (Cyclist Green Ring) is a bikeway that surrounds the city of Madrid. It is 64 kilometres long, and the average time to go across it is 4 hours and a half. It was built by phases, between the year 1995 and 2007. Section::::"Madrid Río". "Madrid Río" (literally: Madrid River) is a park located in the banks of the Manzanares River. It opened in 2011, and it is crossed by a cycle route shared with pedestrians.