Comments on: An Insider’s Look at the Paris Velib Bikeshare Program

By: angdis

angdis — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:35:51 +0000

I just came back from a vacation in Paris. While I personally did not use the velib system, it was clear that this program is hugely popular. Students, business-people, grandma’s — every demographic you can imagine uses these things.

I heard about the problems with it, but when you take the bigger view that this is intended to be part of a public transit system, the problems with theft and vandalism don’t seem to be significant enough to destroy the benefits. There are A LOT of these bikes. I am thinking that over time the theft rate will simply plateau and the ubiquity of the bikes makes theft less desireable.

I did notice that the rims on the wheels were freakin’ tough. Does anyone know what rims these are?

By: Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:56:50 +0000

I seem to remember reading a counterpoint to this article when it came out back in February…suggesting that the “doom and gloom” was overblown. I can’t locate that article just now, though.

I stand behind my statement of “wildly successful” — 42 million uses is pretty spectacular no matter how you slice it.

For a U.S.-based program, check out D.C.’s “Smartbike” — not nearly as extensive as Velib but showing good promise so far:

https://www.smartbikedc.com/program_information.asp

@Elizabeth — that’s what I’ve heard, too. Don’t bring the bike back? Get charged for it! Folks figured out a way to break them off the storage racks, though…one of the above articles addresses the beefing up of that part of the bike/rack interface.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:50:47 +0000

JC Decaux supplies the bus stops in Chicago with advertising…. Wish a similar program could be sponsored here.

Aren’t the rentals linked to CC info so that the
renter gets charged for an unreturned bike?

By: Stuart M.

Stuart M. — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:31:10 +0000

I hate to “rain on your parade” so soon, but the BBC has reported some major problems with the Velib bicycle rental program, the major one being theft. Check out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7881079.stm

“Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.

They have been used 42 million times since their introduction but vandalism and theft are taking their toll.

The company which runs the scheme, JCDecaux, says it can no longer afford to operate the city-wide network. ”

I was enthusiastic about this program when I first heard about it a year ago, and I assumed it could work because those Europeans are so much more “civilized” than we Americans, but I was wrong. The bikes are being outright stolen or abused by “boys” riding them down public stairs, etc.

How long do you think that rental program would work in America?