Karditsa Municipality lies on the western part of central Greece’s prefecture of Thessaly. It is one of the most successful examples of cities which embrace the culture of bike riding as an alternative to driving a car in the country. The number of bicycles is more than 20,000 while Karditsa itself has a population of less than 40,000 people. Karditsa has undoubtedly become one of the country’s most bicycle-friendly places.
For more than 50 years now the city has promoted bicycling as one of the main means of transportation both inside the city and around it. The inhabitants of the city have been raised as bicycle lovers. The city has a network of bicycle lanes measuring more than 7.5 kilometers inside the urban zone complemented by 10.5 kilometers of dedicated lanes outside the urban area. With Greece’s most modern rent-a-bike network, which is used with an electronic card called ”Easybike”, locals and visitors can rent a bike, use it for as long as they like and then leave it at one of the many bike stations all over Karditsa. The nation of Greece overall is not known for its bike-friendly nature, but Karditsa is a shining exception to that rule.
Source: Greek reporter
