Cyclists in Zaragoza will soon be forced to get insurance if they want to ride in the streets of the north-eastern Spanish city.
Over the summer Zaragoza’s city council approved a new Mobility Ordinance that has wide-ranging impacts for locals. One particularly headline-grabbing measure means that from September 2024 the use of helmets will be compulsory on electric scooters and for children under 16 years on bikes.
Perhaps most controversially, however, is that moving forward cyclists and electric scooter riders must have compulsory insurance to travel around the Aragonese city.
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According to the text, cyclists and riders must always carry a copy of the insurance policy, either on paper or in electronic format, and must also have "approved rear and front lighting devices switched on at any time of the day or night."
Some measures included in the Mobility Ordinance will come into force from the first week of September, while others will be phased in over time.
Zaragoza’s Councillor for Mobility, Tatiana Gaudes, stated in local media that the reforms prioritise “the safety of citizens” and make cyclists and scooter riders “safer” while travelling.
However, the city’s Socialist party and Zaragoza en Común both voted against the changes and described the mobility ordinance as “a step backwards” for the city.
Similarly, local cycling groups have strongly criticised the ordinance for creating “bureaucratic and economic obstacles” that seek to “hinder” the use of bikes in the city.
Cycling rights group El Colectivo Pedalea have come out strongly against the changes, the draft bill of which also includes the possibility of banning cycling in streets with a 30 km/h speed limit.
Compulsory insurance and limits on where cyclists can go, the group says, “seeks to proactively hinder the growth of cycling as a means of transport and discourage people who want to opt for it”.
Posting on Twitter/X, one cycling activist stated: "The town hall's new Urban Mobility Ordinance comes into force in the first week of September 2024, which forces anyone on a bike to carry compulsory insurance. The only municipality in Europe."
La primera semana de sept./2024 entra en vigor la nueva Ordenanza de Movilidad Urbana del @zaragoza_es que obliga a cualquier persona sobre una bicicleta a portar seguro obligatorio. Único municipio de Europa. Un verdadero atentado a la razón.
— ⓑιcιcletⓞ (@Bicicleto_ZGZ) August 30, 2024
? https://t.co/oPpmBQS6ev pic.twitter.com/1WjcjPZdwT
Car drivers will also see some changes on Zaragoza’s road in the coming years.
An ordinance regulating the city’s Low Emission Zone (ZBE) rules was also recently approved. The first phase, which limits access to the most polluting cars to the old town area, will be in place by 2026.
The second phase, which extends as far as the Plaza Paraíso area, will be in place by 2030.
Gaudes explained that the ZBE should be “progressive and not aggressive” and “the low emission zones have to adapt to cities and not the other way round.”
READ MORE: How Spain's new low-emission zones will affect drivers
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