News
What the Bicing lights mean and why some bikes can't be used
A Bicing station may have several bikes docked but show far fewer available on the Smou app. This isn't always a mistake: the lights on the docks indicate whether a bike can be taken, is reserved, is charging, or if the system is processing an operation.
The first clue is also the simplest. According to Bicing’s official information, an available bike may show an orange LED or no light at all. These are the ones a user can normally choose when arriving at the station, as long as they match the type—mechanical or electric—selected in Smou.
Yellow requires more attention because it doesn’t have a single meaning. When all free bikes at a station are gone and only those assigned via the reservation service remain, the yellow LED means those bikes are locked for anyone who hasn’t reserved. Reservations are made through Smou, last five minutes, and let you pick a bike of the selected type from those available.
But yellow also appears during the normal process of taking or returning a bike. When scanning the QR, using NFC, or the card, the user must wait for the yellow light to turn green before removing the bike. When returning it, something similar happens: yellow means the dock is detecting the bike, and green confirms it’s been properly secured.
Red is mainly used to identify a dock that isn’t available. Bicing specifically states that when returning a bike, you should choose a spot without a red light. Also, electric bikes that are charging at a station show a flashing red LED and can’t be taken during this process.
It can also happen that there are bikes physically present but Smou doesn’t allow you to take any. Bicing itself explains that in these cases, they may be broken bikes left at the station waiting for the maintenance team to remove or repair them. That’s why simply counting bikes by eye doesn’t always match the availability shown on your phone.
This difference is becoming more significant as the service grows. Bicing closed 2025 with 19.5 million uses and over 166,000 subscribers. It currently has 8,000 bikes—5,000 electric and 3,000 mechanical—and 557 stations across the ten districts. The latest published figures put the number of subscribers at just over 170,000.
Smou updates the available bikes and docks roughly every 30 seconds. The app also lets you check electric and mechanical bikes separately and offers a prediction of the likelihood of finding a bike or free space at a station in 15 or 30 minutes.
There’s another useful detail after each trip: it’s not enough to see the bike physically placed in the station. Bicing recommends checking in Smou that the trip has ended or waiting for the notification confirming the docking. If the app still shows the trip as active after you’ve left the bike, you should contact customer service to resolve the issue.