Bicing prices to rise making it the most expensive bike rental service in Spain (read article in Castilian here, El Periodico). The annual fee will increase from January 1st, from €30.51 to €35, which will raise nearly €600,000. The rise of 14.7 percent, makes the service the most expensive public bike service compared to Seville, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Girona. Bicing have already sent details of the price rise to users explaining that the fee only covers the cost of management and reminded them that the price had "only be revised once over the four years of service". Bicing will have been in service for four years from March in 2011 and has been plagued with problems since including unexplained electronic blackouts, continuous thefts, vandalism of all kinds, maintenance problems. Clear Channel, who won the contract for a period of 10 years and are normally more used to dealing with urban advertising have been forced to confront numerous unplanned expenses, such as unexpectedly high numbers of subscribers, forcing BSM (Barcelona de Serveis Municipals) to hand out more money. In July 2009, the council announced that the budget earmarked for the public bike service went from €12 to €16.7 million, a growth of 40 percent. The rises in public transport, with taxis increasing by 3.2 percent, the cost of a T-10 metro ticket rising by 3.7 percent and now Bicing by 15 percent, seems to contradict the ayuntamiento wish to promote its use. CiU councilman, Eduard Freixedes described the hike in prices as "unjustifiable" and called for a rethink and to seek new funding.
The first prize in the Christmas lottery, (El Gordo) is number 79,250 and was sung by Andreas López and Ivan Quintero at 11.14am (read article in Castilian here, La Vanguardia). The awards so far have been pretty evenly spread over the country but Catalunya has been lucky with €300,000 per décimo of the Gordo being split between Barcelona and Cerdanyola. In Barcelona it was sold at the Mercabarna in Zona Franca. The administration began selling the lottery in 2001 and sold the second prize in the National Lottery and third prize in the Euromillions. Many Catalan fans of FC Barcelona has purchased tickets ending with the numbers 5-0, which Barça beat Real Madrid. To watch the results live click here.
Two newly opened museums on the Battle of Ebro to close (read article in Castilian here, El País). A pair of museums designed by the Generalitat to explain the battle of Ebro are to shut after just nine months. The museum infrastructure, managed by the public consortium Consorcio Memorial de los Espacios de la Batalla del Ebro (Comebe), was completed in March, with individual centres in five different locations in the Terra Alta. However, just nine months after opening, the two museums located in Fatarella and Vilalba dels Arcs are to shut down due to lack of resources. Xavier Marzo, mayor of Vilalba said yesterday, The Generalitat payed a lot when it was first launched but did not anticipate how to keep them open. It's a shame. " Carme Peleja, the mayor of Faterella said, "we feel bad because many people came. But between the crisis and the massive support, we have been overwhelmed." Josep Sánchez Cerbelló, professor at University Rovira i Virgili and director of the centre said, both museums are essential. "Without integrating the routine of the trenches and the role of the international troops, the Battle of Ebro can not be explained".