Vélo'v is a
bicycle sharing system run by the city of
Lyon, France
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...
, in conjunction with the
advertising company
JCDecaux. It has been the pioneer of smart bicycle-sharing systems, previous systems being more ad hoc and run similar to a charity. The relationship with JCDecaux allows the city to provide the service on a
cost neutral basis for the city, and at a very low cost to users, in return for providing exclusive advertising access on
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
shelters and the like. The primary aim is to reduce vehicle traffic within the
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. The scheme also aims to reduce
pollution, create a convivial atmosphere within the city, and encourage the
health benefits of increased activity. Its name is a portmanteau of
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
''vélo'' (''
bike
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
...
'') and
English ''love''. The first bicycle sharing system to open in
France, after the pioneering 1974 scheme in
La Rochelle, its thundering success inspired similar systems in major French and
European cities, including Paris'
Velib' in 2007. With the success of these two high profile smart bicycle sharing systems a new paradigm of government supporting bike sharing as a part of a
public transportation network emerged. It is still the bike share scheme with the second-highest
market penetration (1 bike per 121 residents) in the world, after the Velib'.
Overview
The system began on 19 May 2005 and now provides over 3000 bicycles available from over 350 stations situated around the cities of
Lyon and
Villeurbanne. The aim is to have stations within 300m of every point in the city. The bicycles can be returned to any other station. Access is via a subscription system in which a card is purchased online or at a station giving the user an account and a
PIN with which they access bicycles through a terminal situated at the bicycle stations.
Rentals can last from less than 30 minutes up to 24 hours and are available to anyone 14 years and over holding a Carte Vélo'v (subscription card for the service), tourists can buy a 1 or 7-day card for the cycles using a credit card.
The June 2006 edition of the Vélo'v newsletter reported that over 22,000 rentals per day were made by the over 52,000 subscribers to the service, an increase of 44% in a year, and representing 6,400,000 km traveled for the year.
In 2010, Velo'v data was analyzed by a cross-disciplinary team, who found some interesting patterns, such as higher average speeds on Wednesdays, speeds that outpaced cars during peak hours, and an average trip length of 14.7 minutes.
In 2017 there were nearly 25000 daily rentals, more than 8 million trips in the year and 68500 long-term subscribers.
Bicycles
Vélo'v bicycles, along with a lock and basket, contain electronic components which allow the bicycle to be identified by the stations, allow tracking of kilometers traveled, tracking the condition of the bicycles, (lights, brakes, dynamo), and collection of detailed statistics about the usage of the bicycles.
Video game
For the 2006 edition of the
Festival of Lights, Lyon had been partly modelized in order to create a video game named ''Velo've raced in Lyon'', created by
B2B Games. Pedestrians could play for free from 7 to 10 December and the game was broadcast on screens on place de la République.
See also
*
Outline of cycling
*
Short term hire schemes
References
External links
vélo'v Grand Lyon- vélo'v Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velo'v
Cycling in France
Transport in Lyon
Community bicycle programs
Bicycle sharing in France