Renfe has been working for years on combining rail travel, as a more sustainable means of collective transport, with cycling. The benefits for the environment are enormous.
The Train+Bike combination is key to fluid and clean urban mobility. Renfe trains are also the perfect solution for those who love bicycle touring, many of whom choose this as a lifestyle.
You can travel with your bike in all our Cercanías (commuter) hubs: Since 2000 we have made it our priority to provide a safe, comfortable space to transport bicycles, back when we undertook the project to build our Civia trains, a fleet that has exclusive spaces for bicycles.
The Cercanías del futuro fleet will feature more spaces for bicycles and more innovative solutions, as you can see from the pictures of the prototypes. Sustainable mobility has been the priority for us when purchasing new trains for the future of urban mobility.
Your bicycle can travel for free on all our Cercanías and Feve trains, with no time limits. Just keep the following in mind:
During the latest European Mobility Week, held between 16th and 22nd September 2020, the CicloGreen platform organised the Urban Mobility Challenge. The aim of this competition for businesses was to promote the use of bicycles among employees as a sustainable means of commuting.
We won out of the 63 companies and 12 universities that participated. Over the course of one month our employees travelled 47,628 kilometres on low-emission means of transport.
For the duration of the competition, which ran from 16th September to 16th October, the workers involved in the challenge provided information about their journeys through an app. This assessed the impact of their daily journeys in the form of CO2 emissions saved and an estimate of money saved, giving priority to the use of low-emission means of transport (on foot, by bicycle, scooter or public transport or car sharing).
The second initiative was called 'Bike to work' 30 Days by Bike Challenge, which took place in April and in which Renfe employees also participated.
In March 2019 we signed an agreement with the "Red de Ciudades por La Bicicleta" (Spanish Cities for Cycling Network) to create a joint working group to propose policies to promote the bike and train intermodality, which can also be applied to other individual mobility options.
The purpose of the agreement is to analyse and propose specific measures:
You can consult all the information about Bicycles in each Cercanias (Commuter) area in the "Travelling with" section.
In many cities there are examples of how the train + bike intermodality can really take off. One of these examples is the Bicibox space at Gavà station.
Bicibox is a public network of free, secure parking areas for bicycles around different municipalities in Barcelona metropolitan area.
At Gavá station, there are 100 parking spaces for conventional bicycles and 6 for electric bicycles, locked cabinets where you can charge electric batteries and a column with tools for minor repairs and a pump, in addition to 10 lockers.
Users are entitled to free use of this equipment for 48 hours during the week and 72 hours on weekends.
As well as the BiciBox, the municipality of Gavá has installed a shared electric bicycle station on the Rambla that accesses the Cercanías Station.
One of the first. In 2009, Renfe and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid opened an All-inclusive Bicycle and Sustainable Mobility Centre (CIBIUAM) at the Cercanías station in Cantoblanco, which continues to operate today under the management of Ciclos Jelca.
The All-inclusive Bicycle Centre at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid promotes the use of bicycles as an everyday means of transport and raises awareness about the need for more sustainable mobility. CibiUAM offers a series of services and activities to the University Community, such as bicycle rental and storage, mechanic workshop, store, self-repair workshop, second-hand market, apparel and workshops on sustainable mobility.
Out of the 149 lines on which our Cercanías and Media Distancia (mid-distance) trains run, 132 allow you to travel with an unfolded bicycle.
To transport your bicycle on AVE (high-speed), Larga Distancia (long distance), Avant (mid-distance high-speed) or Trenhotel trains, it must always be folded or dismounted and inside a bag. One bicycle is allowed per person.
See details in the Bicycles section.
On Media Distancia (mid-distance) trains we ask you to book a place (there are three for each train) to ensure there is enough space for your bike. Please note that the number of bicycles that can travel on each train is limited.
When you buy your train ticket, once you have selected the train you will see a list of extras, which is where you can select the ticket for your bicycle. On routes of more than 100 km, this ticket costs 3 euros and on routes less than 100 km it is free, although you will have to book your space during the ticket buying process.
See details in the Bicycles section.
The advantages in terms of the environmental sustainability of rail travel in fighting climate change may be even greater, which is why Renfe has teamed up with Adif and Adif Alta Velocidad to promote the Master Plan to combat Climate Change. This plan is structured in 4 strategic lines: energy management, energy efficiency, decarbonisation and culture. We can summarise this in one huge commitment: reduce 9.9 million tonnes of Co2 by 2030 and save more than 250 million euros in external costs.