The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated on Wednesday 5th November in Milan the 66th edition of EICMA, the Bike and Motor Show. He was also the first person to inaugurate the city's new bike sharing service "BikeMi" with a tour on an attractive brand-new bicycle around the halls of the fair. The public service will be launched at the end of the month with 1200 of the foreseen 5000 bicycles distributed in 95 stations. The Mayor of Milan, Mrs. Letizia Moratti said she is convinced that the bicycle is an ecological and economical means of transport that could increase Milan's quality of life and promised 120 km of bicycle paths within 2011". ECF president Manfred Neun was invited by our Italian member group FIAB and ECF vice-president Doretta Vicini to Milan and met both politicians personally at this event. He was highly pleased about the increasing attention of cycling. ECF President AManfred Neun (right) compliments the mayor of Milan, Mrs. Letizia Moratti (left), to the new bike sharing system: "Congratulations to this important step into a good human-friendly future and compliments for this bike model - it's the most fashionable one I have seen till now. So it's typically "Milanese". He also invited the Mayor to Velo-city 2009 in Brussels. |
