is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. Launched on 15 July 2007, the system encompassed around 14,500 bicycles and 1,400 bicycle stations, located across Paris and in some surrounding municipalities, with an average daily ridership of 85,811 in 2011. The name ''Vélib''' is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words Vélib' was operated originally as a concession by the French advertising corporation JCDecaux. , Vélib' was the world's 12th-largest bikesharing program by the number of bicycles in circulation; the rest of the top 18 are in Chinese cities. , Velib' had the highest

market penetration Market penetration refers to the successful selling of a good or service in a specific market. It is measured by the amount of sales volume of an existing good or service compared to the total target market for that product or service. Market p ...

with 1 bike per 97 inhabitants, followed by

Vélo'v Vélo'v is a bicycle sharing system run by the city of Lyon, France, 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 ch ...

Lyon 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 ...

with 1 bike per 121 residents, and

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also Chinese postal romanization, romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the prov ...

in China with 1 per 145. Since December 2011, Vélib' had been complemented by

Autolib' Autolib' was an electric car sharing service which was inaugurated in Paris, France, in December 2011. It closed on 31 July 2018. It was operated by the Bolloré industry and complemented the city's bike sharing system, Velib', which was set up ...

, an

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...

sharing scheme operating on similar principles."Paris tests Autolib' electric car-sharing program"

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service cons ...

. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011. As of 2018, Velib' has been rebranded as Vélib' Métropole, and is now operated by Smovengo.

History

The initiative was proposed by Paris mayor and

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major po ...

member

Bertrand Delanoë Bertrand Delanoë (; born 30 May 1950) is a French retired politician who served as Mayor of Paris from 2001 to 2014. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he previously served in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and Senate from 1995 unt ...

. The system was launched on 15 July 2007 following

's success of its contactless system

in May 2005, the pioneering scheme in June 1998 of ''LE vélo STAR'' in

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departme ...

, the first free public network (25 stations) with electronic identification of the bikes but which used magnetic cards or earlier the simple bicycle-sharing system of

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

in 1974. Velib' initially introduced to the city 7,000 bicycles, distributed among 750 automated rental stations, with fifteen or more bicycle parking slots each. The following year the initiative was enlarged to some 16,000 bicycles and 1,200 rental stations, with roughly one station every throughout the city centre. making Vélib' the third-most-extensive system of its kind in the world in 2013, surpassed in station numbers only by systems in

and Wuhan in China. During its first year in operation, Vélib' reported 20 million trips made, and at its sixth anniversary, a total of 173 million journeys were reported. As of 1 January 2018, Velib' has been rebranded as Vélib' Métropole. It is now operated by Smovengo. The service is operating in Paris and 64 surrounding cities. After many technical issues at relaunch, the City of Paris set an ultimatum to resolve service problems by September 2018 which seemed to work as the system is slowly recovering in January 2019. Velib' now also offers electric bicycles, in turquoise, distinct from its regular bicycles in green.

System

The system's bicycles are produced in Hungary by the French bicycle company Mercier and are repaired by JCDecaux. The price per bicycle has been variously stated as US$500, $1,300 (if provided by JCDecaux), , $3,460, or $3,500 apiece. They are three-speed bicycles, each weighing approximately 22.5 kilograms (50 pounds). Vélib' bikes are equipped with a locking system, a front

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

and always-on LED lighting powered by a front-hub dynamo. Each Vélib' station is equipped with an automatic rental terminal, a map of other nearby stations and stands for dozens of bicycles. The rental terminals also display information about neighbouring Vélib' stations, including location, number of available bicycles and open stands. If a user arrives with a rented bicycle at a station without open spots, the terminal grants another fifteen minutes of free rental time. A fleet of 23 bicycle-transporting vehicles are used daily to redistribute bicycles between empty and full stations.

Rates

Current system prices are available on the Vélib website. To use the system, users buy a subscription, which allows an unlimited number of rentals. With a subscription, bike rental is free for the first half-hour of every individual trip; an unlimited number of such free trips can be made per day. A trip that lasts longer than 30 minutes incurs an additional charge for each subsequent 30‑minute period. The increasing price scale is intended to keep the bikes in circulation. A Vélib' Passion subscription allows the user to have the first 45 minutes free on each trip, its price is reduced for users aged under 27, and for students receiving a scholarship. Some stations located above an altitude of 60 metres are called ''V+''. They give any user returning a bicycle from a non-''V+'' station 15 free minutes of rental: if a rental lasts more than 30 minutes, 15 minutes will be deducted to calculate the amount the user has to pay, meaning that, for example, a 45-minute trip to a ''V+'' station is free. If the rental lasts 30 minutes or less, the 15 minutes are added to a ''bonus V+'' account, and can be used for future rentals exceeding 30 minutes. A credit card or

debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term '' plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credit card, but ...

with a PIN is required to sign up for the program and to rent the bikes. The credit/debit card is charged a €300 deposit, to protect against bikes not being returned. The credit card is required to contain an EMV chip to get a subscription at a station; short-term subscription can also be purchased online. 1‑day and 1‑week subscribers are given a subscription number to be used for future rentals during their subscription period, while 1‑year subscribers are sent an

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

card. All types of sign-up can also be attached to a Navigo pass. The RFID card and Navigo pass allow direct use of the card readers at Vélib stations.

Financing

The system was originally financed by the JCDecaux advertising corporation, in return for the city of Paris signing over the income from a substantial portion of on‑street advertising hoardings. JCDecaux won the contract over a rival bid from Clear Channel. JCDecaux paid the system start-up costs, totalling about $140 million, and employed around 285 people full-time to operate the system and repair bikes, under a ten-year contract. The city received all revenue from the program, as well as a fee of about $4.3 million a year. In return, JCDecaux received exclusive control over 1,628 city-owned billboards; the city receives about half of that advertising space at no charge for public-interest advertising (slightly different numbers were reported in July 2008). This model was first used in France in 1998 by Adshel (now part of Clear Channel) in

. Due to an unexpectedly high rate of

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The ter ...

compared to the Lyon bicycle hire system, the Paris City Council agreed to pay replacement costs of $500 per vandalised bicycle, leading to unexpected costs of up to €2 million per year.

Issues

Theft and vandalism

At least 3,000 bicycles were stolen in the first year of operation, a number far greater than had been initially anticipated. By August 2009, of 20,600 bikes introduced into service, about 16,000 – some 80% of the total – had been replaced due to vandalism or theft; of the latter, fully 8,000 were stolen. Stolen Vélib' bicycles turned up in shipping containers destined for North Africa, and in cities as far away as Brașov and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, Romania. Vandalized cycles were sometimes thrown in the River

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, or hung from lampposts. In 2009, the ''New York Times'' reported that it was common to see Vélib' bicycles in their docking stations with flat tires, broken pedals, or other damage. In 2012, however, the ''Financial Times'' reported that "attrition rates have fallen significantly" since the first two years of the program. While maintenance continues to be an issue, the ''FT'' attributed this to "the difficulty of keeping up with the results of heavy use" of the "popular service", in addition to willful damage or theft. JCDecaux officials told reporters that they underestimated the degree of potential losses from vandalism and theft, which had not significantly affected earlier JCDecaux-administered bike sharing programs in France, such as

in Lyon. In 2009 and in 2012, repair and maintenance efforts in Paris were reportedly running at some 1,500 Vélib bicycles per day, focusing mainly on tire re-inflation. "The system is very costly in terms of implementation," the head of JCDecaux's board of directors said in 2012. "But since 2011 it has achieved budgetary balance, after losing money during the first three years." While JCDecaux does not disclose exact figures, according to Inter Press Service the system was expected to be profitable in 2012 as well. Vandalism and theft of Vélib' cycles received a wave of press coverage in 2009, with some stories citing JCDecaux staff as their only source. Some French officials and academics said that while real problems existed, such coverage exaggerated their scope, reflecting an effort by JCDecaux to strengthen its bargaining position in financial negotiations with Paris authorities. "Decaux is using media sensationalism to obtain more money from the city of Paris," said Denis Baupin, the city's former Deputy Mayor for Transportation. "It's in large part a PR issue," commented Luc Nadal of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. JCDecaux declined reporters' requests for comment. Sociologist Bruno Marzloff interpreted the unexpected vandalism rate as a symptom of revolt against French society by the suburban and urban poor, especially immigrant youth resentful of what they perceive as privileged ''bo-bos'' or "bourgeois-bohemians", the trend-conscious French urban middle class that are seen as the principal users of the Vélib' system. "One must relate this to other incivilities, and especially the burning of cars," Marzloff said in 2009. referring to the 2005 riots in the capital's working-class suburbs. He described Vélib' vandalism as in part "a form of rebellion" against social exclusion, an "outcry ... that means, 'We don't have the right to mobility like other people, to get to Paris it's a huge pain, we don't have cars, and when we do, it's too expensive and too far.' " The program's critics have cited the Vélib' program as a prime example of the economic principle of the tragedy of the commons. Supporters say that despite its initial problems, Vélib has become a model of innovation in urban public services.

Maintenance

Issues have surfaced on how to safeguard riders from hiring a returned and damaged Vélib cycle or a cycle requiring immediate maintenance. To indicate when there is a problem with the bike, it has become common for returning users to rotate the seat through 180 degrees to point backward. While this practice assists staff in determining which bikes require immediate attention, it depends for its success on substantial voluntary user compliance. Velib_station_BSoD

Timing differences of up to 30 minutes exist between clocks of different rental stations due to poor synchronisation, and may give rise to overbilling or underbilling. The mayor of Paris has given assurances that overcharges will be reimbursed. Rental stations use the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

operating system and have been known to crash, giving the infamous blue screen of death.

Demand

Sole Velib Left Glowing Green In The Dark

There are frequent disparities between the availability of rental bicycles and the number of rental slots. Each rental station indicates the number of bicycles available at the nearest stations. Demand can be high during the working week and during transport strikes. Although rental bicycles are not dedicated, it has been known for people to chain a bicycle to its station so that it will remain available to them for a subsequent trip. Vélib' has declared this to be uncivic behaviour, and Vélib' employees are authorised to cut the locks in these cases. Stations at greater elevations generally experience greater demand. In addition, there is a net inflow of bicycles from the outskirts to the city centre earlier in the day, and a net flow outwards in the evening. Thus, depending on the time of day, Vélib needs to manage the demand at its outermost and centremost stations. Consequently, bicycles may be completely unavailable in some locations, whilst parking problems exist for others. Vélib' faces logistical issues, and must relocate bikes during the course of each day. There are proposals to make adjustments to the system's pricing mechanism. The "bonus V'+" bonus system was put in place on 14 June 2008 in an effort to adjust the demand level. Fifteen minutes of free cycling time is credited to users who rent bicycles from stations without the logo (mostly situated at the edge of the city and more than 60 m above sea level) and drop bicycles off at stations where the logo is displayed. Due to continuing high demand, the Vélib' scheme was extended to neighbouring councils (up to 1.5 km beyond the boundaries of Paris) in 2008. Four thousand bicycles have since been distributed to 29 towns on the outskirts of Paris.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Velib' Projects established in 2007 2017 disestablishments in France Community bicycle programs Cycling in Paris Transport in Paris 2007 establishments in France Bicycle sharing in France