Villo! (a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the French words ("city") and ("bicycle")) is a public bicycle rental programme in

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It was launched on 19 May 2009 in cooperation between the Brussels-Capital region and the company JCDecaux as a replacement of the former scheme Cyclocity, launched in 2006. The scheme is currently in its second phase of expansion which will see a system of 5,000 bikes in all of the municipalities of the Brussels region by 2013, making it one of the biggest in the world.

Overview

The bicycles are equipped with adjustable-height

saddle A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not know ...

, 7-speed

gear A gear or gearwheel is a rotating machine part typically used to transmit rotational motion and/or torque by means of a series of teeth that engage with compatible teeth of another gear or other part. The teeth can be integral saliences or ...

, front

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

, covered

chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...

, always-on front and rear lights, front and rear

disc brakes Disc or disk may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a two dimensional shape, the interior of a circle * Disk storage * Optical disc * Floppy disk Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other ...

, puncture-resistant Schwalbe Marathon

tires A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over w ...

and integrated

bicycle lock A bicycle lock is a security device used to deter bicycle theft, either by simply locking one of the wheels or by fastening the bicycle to a fixed object, e.g., a bike rack. Locking devices vary in size and security, the most secure tending to ...

; this all adds up to a weight of 22 kg. Since May 2011, holders of a MoBIB card for

STIB/MIVB The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company ( or ; or ) is the local public transport operator in Brussels, Belgium. It is usually referred to in English by the double acronym STIB/MIVB, or by its French acronym, STIB. STIB/MIVB is responsi ...

, the Brussels mass transit authority, have been able to use their card to access the Villo! network. Use of Villo increases on days of public transit strikes, for example doubling on the day of the

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

, 30 January 2012. As of December 2011, the system had 27,000 regular subscribers. On average, 25,000 bikes were used per week. Plans are under way for an expansion of the network in a second phase which will expand to all of the communities in the Brussels area by 2013. By the end of this phase, there should be 360 sites and 5,000 bikes available. Some popular stations will also be expanded to deal with demand. According to the Brussels Region, 400 car parking places have been removed to make way for villo stations during the first phase of the project. Some residents have complained about the loss of permanent parking spots, but proponents of the programme argue that overall the programme should increase the amount of parking available due to a long-term reduction in motorised traffic.

Cyclocity

The original cyclocity programme, also run by JCDecaux was launched on 17 September 2006 to coincide with Car Free Day that year. Originally there were 250 bikes available at 23 stations, exclusively in the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

proper. The programme was not a success, with most of the blame going to the limited scope of the network. It was relaunched under the Villo! brand in 2009 with an expanded network. VilloTerminalAndMap

Issues

Bicycle distribution

Stations especially those at greater elevations are regularly empty. Other stations are regularly full. JCDecaux tries to fix this problem by transporting bicycles between stations with special vans but the service is insufficient. The company has said it will expand some stations to address the problem in September 2010. The independent website "Where's My Villo?" uses real-time data to track the performance of Brussels' bike-sharing scheme, Villo!, and aims to get JCDecaux to improve bike availability. Phase 2, to be implemented in 2012 will also see the expansion of some of the most popular stations.

Stations

There are 346 (April 2015) stations in all municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region. The density of stations in each municipality varies from 0.3 to 4.5 stations/km².The five most used stations are (in 2011): *

Brussels-Luxembourg railway station Brussels-Luxembourg railway station (; ) is a railway station in the Brussels and the European Union#European Quarter, European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium, located under the Esplanade of the European Parliament (part of the European Parliamen ...

(5845 uses/month) * Flagey (4,598/month) * Celtes (3,060/month) * Bourse/Beurs (3,037/month) * Lesbroussart (2,624/month) The five least used stations are (in 2011): * Van Lint (125 uses/month) * Heliotropes (164 uses/month) * Sainte-Anne (188 uses/month) * Hopital français (222 uses/month) * Tref centrum (236 uses/month) Average monthly usage per station was 1,251. Details of the stations:

References

External links

*
Where's My Villo?

Real Time Network Status
{{Bicycle sharing systems 2009 establishments in Belgium Public transport in Brussels Bicycle sharing in Belgium