SMOU, SEVICI, Valenbisi and BiZi compared for public bikes in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza — passes, visitor rates and e-bikes.
Spain's big cities each run a docked public-bike scheme, and each scheme has its own app, so no single account unlocks bikes nationwide. What repeats is the commercial model: an annual pass for residents, a short-term pass for visitors and the first block of each ride included; what changes is whether the fleet has electric bikes, how strictly a scheme is reserved for residents, and how painful signup is. The 4 apps in this guide cover Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza in 2026, chosen as the official apps visitors and residents actually install, with Madrid and Bilbao covered where the questions compare fleets.
SMOU is Barcelona's mobility super-app and the only way into Bicing, combining mechanical and electric bikes with regulated parking payments in one account.
Published by Barcelona City Council, it is the sole gateway to Bicing, whose fleet mixes mechanical and electric bikes, and the same account pays for regulated street parking and municipal car parks, so it centralises several city services rather than only bikes. It carries more than 55,000 App Store ratings. The catch for travellers is hard: Bicing requires an annual pass with no tourist rate, so visitors are directed to private operators instead, and bundling many services makes the app take some getting used to. Residents get the one-account convenience; tourists should skip it entirely.
Valenbisi pairs a dense station network with Valencia's flat, well-developed cycle lanes and offers both annual and short-term visitor passes.
Valencia's JCDecaux-operated scheme covers the city with stations and practical cycle infrastructure, so the official app covers the full journey: subscribe on an annual or short-term pass, check real-time availability of bikes and docks, unlock and monitor ride time. It is very well rated on both stores. Electric bikes remain a small minority of the fleet — the riding is mostly pedal-powered, which flat Valencia makes easy — and reviews mention bikes in poor condition at some stations, so choosing a well-used station near the centre helps. For short visits it is among the smoothest signup experiences of the city schemes.
SEVICI runs Seville's bikes across one of Spain's largest cycle-lane networks, with a short-term pass that actually welcomes tourists.
Also operated by JCDecaux, the scheme spreads stations across the city and benefits from Seville's extensive cycle lanes, which makes docked biking genuinely practical rather than heroic. The official app handles annual and short-term subscriptions, maps stations with bikes and free docks in real time, and unlocks a bike directly from the phone; it rates well on both stores. The fleet is mechanical only, with no electric option, and reviews flag both the summer heat and the worn condition of some bikes. Seville's flat geography offsets the lack of motors, but check a bike's state before committing to a ride.
BiZi is Zaragoza's renewed scheme under operator Lyft, now built around a brand-new electric fleet, with strong App Store reviews and weaker Google Play ones.
After an overhaul and a change of operator to Lyft, the service was relaunched around a fresh electric fleet, and the app handles subscriptions, per-station availability checks and unlocking from the phone. Its store ratings tell a split story: well received on the App Store, considerably less so on Google Play, and the operator transition itself drew complaints from long-time users who preferred the previous setup. Beyond that, it is a city scheme like the others — useful inside Zaragoza, useless outside it. The reason to choose it over a walk is the all-electric renewal, which matters more in Zaragoza's climate and distances than in flatter coastal cities.
Pros
Brand-new electric fleet
Real-time station availability
Good App Store rating
Cons
Middling Google Play rating
Operator change upset old users
Only useful in Zaragoza
Download price only. In-app purchases and subscriptions may cost extra.
Questions & answers
Can visitors use Spain's public bike schemes?
In most cities yes: Madrid, Valencia and Seville offer one-day or multi-day rates in the app, though conditions change whenever a service is retendered, so check the current terms. Barcelona is the exception: Bicing sells only an annual pass aimed at residents, so visitors must use private bike and scooter operators instead.
How much does public bike share cost?
Resident annual passes run roughly 20 to 50 euros depending on the city, with the first 30 minutes of each ride included and a small charge for each additional block of time. Exact tariffs change yearly, so confirm the figures in the app before subscribing rather than trusting an older guide.
Which Spanish cities have electric public bikes?
Madrid, Zaragoza and Bilbao run fully electric fleets, and Barcelona mixes pedal and electric bikes. Valencia and Seville remain mostly pedal-powered, which matters less in both cities because their terrain is flat, so the missing motor rarely decides a ride.
Is there one bike-share app valid across Spain?
No. Each scheme has its own operator and app, and accounts are not shared between cities. What does work across several cities are private dockless bike and scooter operators, which are covered in a separate guide, so residents touring the country still need a second family of apps.
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