Villo! (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordspublic bicycle rental programme in

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Villo! user in Parc du Cinquantenaire (DSCF7655)

It was launched on 19 May 2009 in cooperation between the Brussels-Capital region and the company

JCDecaux Decaux Group (JCDecaux SA, ) is a multinational corporation based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France, known for its bus-stop advertising systems, billboards, public bicycle rental systems, and street furniture. It is the largest outdoor ...

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 The 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 k ...

, 7-speed

gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic ...

, 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 ...

, covered chain drive, always-on front and rear lights, front and rear disc brakes, puncture-resistant Schwalbe Marathon

tires A tire (American English) or tyre (British 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 which t ...

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. Quick-release levers, as used on some bicycle wheels and seatpost faste ...

; this all adds up to a weight of 22 kg. Since May 2011, holders of a MoBIB card for STIB, 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, 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 5000 bikes available. Some popular stations will also be expanded to deal with demand. According to the Region of Brussels, 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 proper, that is to say the old city. 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 (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Luxembourg, nl, Station Brussel-Luxemburg), officially Brussels-Luxembourg (french: Bruxelles-Luxembourg, link=no, nl, Brussel-Luxemburg, link=no), is a railway station in the Eu ...

(5845 uses/month) * Flagey (4598/month) * Celtes (3060/month) * Bourse (3037/month) * Lesbroussart (2624/month) The five least used stations are (in 2011): * Van Lint (125 uses/month) * Heliotropes (164 uses/month) * Sainte-Anne (188 uses/month) * Hopital francais (222 uses/month) * Tref centrum (236 uses/month) Average monthly usage per station was 1251. 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