Madrid, Apr 9 (EFE).- The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, has announced that this Monday, with the return to work after the Easter break, there will be an “extraordinary reinforcement of bikes” to serve the Bicimad, which “little by little is improving”.
This was confirmed by Almeida in statements to the media before attending the traditional tamborrada that ends Holy Week in Madrid in the Plaza Mayor.
The councilor explained that the bicycle rental service, which has acknowledged that it has suffered problems in recent weeks, “is improving” little by little thanks to the fact that the City Council is “working hard”.
With the return to work this Monday, there will be an “extraordinary reinforcement” of vehicles to meet the greatest demand that may occur, he added.
Despite the problems in recent weeks, partly a consequence of the new technological platform for bicycle management -which has coexisted with the previous system and has caused incidents-, partly due to the free service that has increased the number of users and partly due to the abandonment of the vehicles outside their bases, Almeida has insisted that the objective of his Government is that all the districts of the capital have their Bicimad.
And he has asked the left to explain to the residents of the southern or eastern neighborhoods of the capital why they reject the bicycle rental service reaching their streets.
Specifically, Almeida has attacked the Socialist candidate for Mayor and former Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, about whom he has said that he was part of “the Government that has mistreated the Cercanías service in Madrid” and from his Ministry “Not only did he not ask for responsibilities, but he did not show his face” to try to solve the transport problems that affect the people of Madrid.
That is why he has downplayed the criticism that Maroto can make, that she is “the worst minister in terms of budget execution”, a position that “in a government of 22 ministries has much merit.”
“To be the last of 22, you have to commit and make an effort,” Almeida ironized, adding that apart from the “objective” data of budget execution there is also the “subjective” data that the ministers Alberto Garzón, Irene Montero or Ione Belarra have executed their games “more and better” than Maroto.
“Therefore, I would tell (Reyes Maroto) that before talking about others, look more at herself and look at the Government of which she has been a part,” she has settled.
On the other hand, when asked about the statements made by the deputy mayor, Begoña Villacís, in which she pointed out that the management of Bicimad corresponds to the Environment and Mobility area of the City Council (in the hands of the PP councilor Borja Carabante), Almeida stressed that The municipal government has functioned during these more than three years as a single government, without differentiating whether the areas were run by the PP or by Citizens.
“The government’s problems are shared by both of us, that has been the success of the government, that we have always acted as a single government, without standing out or trying to get partisan benefits. And that will be my line of conduct until the end of the legislature, ”he pointed out.
