Bicycle Sharing Systems: Paris and the Vélib'

In recent years the perils of climate change have caused many to push governments to take vital steps to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and one innovation that has been extremely popular, particularly in European countries, is the bike-share system. Countries across the globe have jumped on this environmentally friendly bandwagon, hoping to offer free or affordable public bikes to citizens and tourists alike as an eventual way to diminish traffic congestion, improve parking, and reduce pollution in large cities. While certainly the place that most often comes to mind when thinking of such a program is Amsterdam, famous for its “white bike program,” the notion has spread to many other cities across Europe, including Stockholm, Vienna, Barcelona, Brussels, Zurich, and Copenhagen. Inspired in part by these places and as an attempt to make his own city greener and more bike-friendly, Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoë conceived a bike-hire system for Paris, which made its official début on July 15, 2007. The service was dubbed Vélib’, a portmanteau combining the French words “vélo” (bike) and “liberté” (freedom). Accordingly, Vélib’s are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and with numerous pick up and drop off stations scattered across Paris (see right) they provide a manner to navigate the city of lights in which users can remain above ground and get exercise, all while reducing their carbon footprint. While initially a credit card is required to access the Vélib’s so as to allow the system to charge an automatic €150 penalty if the bike is not returned within twenty-four hours, the first half an hour is completely free, with minimal tariffs for each thirty-minute increment that follows the original departure.

Thus far the program has had enormous success, and according to an article featured in The New York Times, in the first year since its inception “there have been 27.5 million trips in this city of roughly 2.1 million people, many of them for daily commutes,” with an average of 120,000 trips a day. With so much use, it is understandable that the bikes would need regular maintenance, a task that keeps JCDecaux, the company that won the ten-year contract to run the Vélib’ program, quite busy. But following recent stories from BBC and Le Monde highlighting the mounting costs to both the city of Paris and JCDecaux to maintain “the more than 10% of bikes” which have been vandalized, destroyed, or “lost,” the question is being raised as to whether or not the Vélib’ scheme is one that can be sustained financially. This has become somewhat of a hot topic in the blogosphere, attracting input from various sectors of society. One blogger, Henry Samuel, a correspondent for the Telegraph and whose blog I came across during my exploration of the Bernard Kouchner controversy, wrote a post on the subject entitled “Paris theft-plagued Vélib’ bike scheme: a civilizing force?” in which he explores how the free bikes have affected Paris in both negative and positive ways. Another post I discovered, "Reports of Vélib's Demise Greatly Exaggerated" was written by Ben Fried for Streetsblog, a facet of the Livable Streets movement, and investigates a possible motivation for the bad press that surrounds the Vélib’ program, taking a more optimistic stance on the future of this particular bike-share system. Below are the comments I made at each of the blogs, which can also be found by following the links above.


Paris theft-plagued Vélib' bike scheme: a civilising force? (comment)

While there have surely been regrettable incidents of vandalism of vélib’s in Paris (see below left for an example), it is difficult to completely ignore the success the program has had in the city. In a May 2008 study featured on the Vélib website, it was concluded that 94% of users are more or less satisfied with the system, suggesting that while there may be those who violate the principle of the bikes to create YouTube videos, the general population of Paris has taken advantage of the vélib’s in the manner in which they were intended to be used- to facilitate movement around the urban center. What I found to be most interesting about what you wrote is the effect the system is having on popular culture in France, particularly the “internet single” by Florent Nouvel, “The Vélib’eration of Paris.” Certainly if people are spending the time and energy to create complex songs and “clips” to mock the vélib’s and what they have come to represent (e.g. dating locales), the bikes have profoundly infiltrated the public domain and are likely to remain an integral part of Parisian culture. That being said, I find it rather disconcerting that people are doubting the sustainability of this bike-share system, deeming it a “socialist” maneuver when as Steven clearly points out above the program is run by a corporation which, at the end of the day and regardless of resources spent repairing or tracking down bikes in Romania, makes a profit. In fact, in another blog I encountered it was argued that JCDecaux is “ ‘using media sensationalism in order to obtain more money from the city of Paris.’ ” As someone who appears to have great professional insight into the matter, do you consider this to be a likely possibility? I too am “a staunch supporter” of Vélib’, and while the question of it as a civilizing force remains to be answered, I can only hope that the program will continue to exist and inspire.


Reports of Vélib’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated (comment)

Your post in response to the recent BBC article which cast doubt on the sustainability of Paris’s Vélib’ system was very enlightening, and I enjoyed the more positive tone you took in regards to the future of the bike-sharing scheme. As someone who spent considerable time in Paris last year, I had the opportunity to witness firsthand how popular and convenient vélib’s are for both inhabitants and visitors, and reading about the program’s possible downfall was very disheartening. While certainly, as you mention, the bicycle abuse undeniably “exacts a real toll” in terms of financial costs, you present an extremely compelling counter-argument by bringing up the potential “negotiating ploy on the part of JCDecaux.” In presenting concrete information about the agreement the company has with the city of Paris, specifically the financial statistics, you offer a very strong case defending the Vélib’ system while also delineating key reasons as to why JCDecaux would want to emphasize some of the more negative facets of the program. It upsets me that a corporation would exploit the less desirable aspects of such a system as a means to gain an upper hand in contract bargaining, especially taking into consideration the overall success of Vélib’ and the environmental benefits that such bike-share programs could create for major cities across the world. As the BBC article itself touched upon, many cities are taking the example of Paris’s system across the pond, with San Francisco among those interested in setting up similar initiatives. One person who commented on your blog mentioned New York City as an additional place where community bikes have the potential to be extremely useful; do you personally believe that this kind of system could be successful in the United States? Certainly New York already has a public transportation system comparable to the metro system in Paris, but are Americans truly ready to embrace the bike as so many Europeans have done?