ISSUE NO. 1662
11 - 17 May 2017
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
Green new world City to roll out public bicycle system DOLPHIN CHASE: Lands skipper in trouble.
Immoral porpoises
BIKING BANDWAGON: Almeria is following other cities. By Matthew Elliott Almeria is finally jumping on the biking bandwagon. The council will follow examples set by Murcia, Malaga and Madrid by installing hundreds of public bicycles at key points across the city. The new scheme involves 400 bikes scattered around 61 locations which can be accessed by a one-off card payment, or by paying €40 for an annual pass. With the pass users can ride 30 minutes for free, allowing them to hop on, ride to a market, and hop off
again at the nearest bike station. On a pay-as-you-go basis bikes will cost just €1 for a half hour ride, with a €10 maximum fee for 24 hours use. The total investment is €600,000, money that mayor Pacheco expects to be well worth the reduction in pollution and improvement of
public health. City officials conducted a major survey to ensure that the green scheme was popular with residents. They found that 48 per cent said they were ‘likely’ to use it, while 16 per cent would definitely take part. The most conservative estimate predicts that between
32-35,000 people will use the bike fleet often. Experiments in Sevilla and Malaga found that many people who start using the public bikes soon decide to buy their own and take up cycling full time. Bikes will be available for hire 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
A SPEEDBOAT owner is in trouble after using his vessel to harass a pod of bottlenose dolphins near the port of Aguadulce. Marine conservation group EQUINAC has filed an official complaint against the skipper of the boat, whose identity is known to investigators, since the species is protected by Spanish law. EQUINAC coordinator, Eva Moron, witnessed the incident first hand as she returned from an observation trip, and she said: “We spotted a motorboat near the fish farm which sped up and passed through the farm illegally at a high speed, cutting off the path of the dolphins, then giving chase as they swam away. “We waved our arms and shouted but they ignored us at first, but then they stopped what they were doing to see why we were upset.” Moron explained how the pod had a calf with them and were “dispersed and frightened,” before the boat sped off and stopped right in front of a beach bar “right next to bathers” in another illegal move. When it finally reached its mooring in Aguadulce port, the boat was met by two Guardia Civil cars, with patrols in the area having been tipped off by the EQUINAC team.