· Citizens will be able to vote, on the website of the City Council of Palma (www.a-palma.es), for the following options: Bicipalma, Bicity, Rodapalma and Palmabike

· Voting will be possible until 30th September at 23.59 hrs and the name of the winner will be announced during the Mobility Week

· The public bicycle scheme of Palma will be providing a total of 336 bicycles, 470 racks and 28 stations

The City Council of Palma will be involving citizens in the decision taking process concerning the name to be given to Palma's new public bicycle scheme. Hence, citizens wishing to participate in the election of the name may do so as of today through to 30th September via the City Council's website, on www.a-palma.es. Citizens may choose between four names: Bicipalma, Bicity, Rodapalma and Palmabike.

By means of this participative process, the City Council of Palma wishes to involve citizens in the public bicycle project and aims to make them become involved in the election of the name through which it will be promoted. In Barcelona, the public bicycle is called Bicing, in Sevilla, Sevici and in Girona, Girocleta. Citizens can vote for their favourite name until 30th September 2010 and the name of the winner will be announced during the Mobility Week.

The public bicycle scheme is financed by the new Plan E and has been allocated a budget amounting to 800,000 euros (VAT included). Indra has been the company to be awarded the project. It is expected that the system will become operative during the last few months of 2010.

Citizen card

In Palma, the public bicycle scheme will be associated to the citizen card. Hence, any person wishing to use this new type of public transport will have to first go to a public bicycle station, pass the citizen card through the card reader and get a bicycle. After the journey, the user will leave the bike either at the same public bicycle station s/he collected it or at any other public bicycle station provided by again passing the citizen card through the reader.

The passengers changing from a bus operated by the Municipal Transport Company of Palma (EMT) to a public bicycle will be given the option to use the bike for half an hour for free. In this way, the City Council aims to promote public transport by all means possible and thereby encouraging the intermodal use of public transport.

The Plan E will allow for the implementation of the public bicycle scheme in Palma. This first stage will be optimised by future enhancements to the scheme, that will be defined once the needs of the users and the possibilities to improve the system have been checked.

The stations

A total of 28 stations will be set up, that is, three more than the initial number requested in the terms and conditions specified for the public tender. The locations, where these 25 stations will be located, have already been decided upon and the three remaining locations are still being decided. The stations are those places in which the users will be able to pick up the bicycle from and return it to. The stations will be spread across a total of 15 neighbourhoods: Foners, Pere Garau, Marqués de Fontsanta, Arxiduc, Bons Aires, Es Fortí, Camp d'en Serralta, Santa Catalina, Jaume III, Born, Plaça dels Patins, Cort, Sant Nicolau, Sindicat and Mercat.

The bicycles

The scheme will be providing a total of 336 bicycles, 56 more than the number initially requested in the terms and conditions' leaflet. The bikes supplied are BH brand bikes, one of the leading bike manufacturing companies. The bikes' characteristics are detailed below:

- 3-speed integrated shifter.
- Lighting system compliant with regulations, with a front and rear light.
- Bell.
- Front and rear brakes.
- Strengthened bicycle tyres designed to avoid burst tyres and equipped with an anti-theft system.
- Front basket.
- Regulable bike seat with an anti- theft system.

The racks

The public bicycle will be providing a total of 470 racks, that is, 30 more than those requested in the terms and conditions of the public contest summonned by the City Council. Hence, more racks than bikes are provided in order to encourage journeys and offer users more parking options.

The points of interaction with the user

Each station will be equipped with a point of interaction with the user (PIU), that is, a system equipped with screens and an informatic programme allowing citizens to pick up or return a bicycle. These units will show the user where bikes are available, where empty racks are available, which stations are full and provide an overview of the closest stations with available racks, will allow users to introduce information relative to the bicycle or detect the wrong functioning or deterioration of the bicycle that might condition its normal functioning, among other features.

As a novelty, these PIU will be equipped with a video surveillance system integrated in the station. In this way, each station will be surveilled by a camera focussed on the bicycles. This will allow for a continued control of the station and surveillance of the bicycles.

To vote, please click here

- The implementation of free wireless internet access in the beaches of Cala Major, Cala Estància and Ciutat Jardí conclude the city's wi-fi internet network project
- The areas, in which wireless internet can now be accessed in Palma for free, have already registered more than 27,000 users.

5th August. The City Council of Palma introduced today three new areas in which internet can be accessed for free. These new areas comprise three of Palma's beaches, thereby giving the citizenship additional areas, this time tourist areas, in which to connect to the net for free.

The three new wi-fi areas that have been officially launched today include the beach of Cala Major, the beach of Cala Estància and the beach of Ciutat Jardí. It is worth recalling at this point that the city's first four wi-fi areas were introduced by the City Council last April and that, since then, this service has been extended to the 24 municipal libraries.

Besides, the City Council's free wi-fi network has recently been further enhanced by a free wi-fi area at Palma's Youth Information Centre, including the area comprised by Plaça dels Instituts, also known as "Plaza del Tubo", located on the Avingudes. Until now, the free wi-fi areas from the City Council of Palma registered more than 27,000 unique users (every new Wi-Fi device detected to connect to the wi-fi network is considered to be a unique user), distributed as follows. (Figures reflect a total of 26,261 unique users detected and registered until 2nd August in Palma):

How do I connect?

In order to connect to any free wi-fi area provided by the City Council, users just need to connect the wi-fi on their device (mobile phone, PC, MP3, laptop, notebook, or similar). Once this has been done, users will be accessing a welcome website available in Catalan, Spanish and English providing basic information on Palma, on the wi-fi area in question as well as a direct access to the City Council's website.

Is there a time limit for connection?

The connection to the wi-fi areas provided by the City Council is limited to 30 minutes and a maximum bandwith of 256 kb/s, in compliance with the CMT regulation. Certain content and access to specific software is restricted in order to ensure the quality and appropriate use of the service. Besides, the wi-fi areas are 100% secure and are equipped with the most innovative technical means for their management. This allows for an optimum access 365 days a year and gives up to 1,000 users the chance to connect simultaneously to the wi-fi network in each wi-fi area with a connectivity quality of up to 300 Mb/s.

Which devices are most used by users?

The global data collected regarding the access in the wi-fi areas according to the type of device used reflect large differences between the different areas. Hence, while on Plaça Joan Carles I users mainly connect to the internet via mobile phones and modern access devices such as the iPod, the municipal libraries mainly reflect the use of the laptop as the main means of access to the wi-fi network. On the other hand, mp3 and iPod devices as well as video games consoles are the most used devices in the beach wi-fi areas.