Jul

More Parisians thereupon Ever Are Taking Bikes For A Spin

Posted by admin Published in Two Wheels

For a city obsessed with all things beautiful, there are some damn ugly bikes zig-zagging down the streets of central Paris these days. But those ugly bikes are at the heart of a hugely successful rental program that could serve as a model for cities in the United States.

The bikes are called Velibs, and there are more than 20,500 of them in the French capital. Parisians rent them by swiping a membership card at one of more than 1,450 self service stations scattered across the city. There is a three tier membership system: one euro buys a day of access, 2 euros for a week and 29 euros for a one year membership.

Velib execs are the first to confess that the program has been designed with the commuter in intellect.
Bikes are are available for 30 minute intervals — pick one up, get
where you need to go, and drop it off at a station within a half hour
or you’ll pay late fees. That said, Velib is additionally targeting the tourist
market, pointing out in its promotional materials that rental terminals
supply data in eight different languages.

As for the bikes themselves, they’re designed for durability, not sleek good looks. considering they’re used an average of 10 to 15 times per day, they’re built to be sturdy, and are heavier than typical city bikes (nearly 50 pounds). Brakes and gear change mechanism are covered by a tough plastic protector. Bikes are reallocated to rental stations as needed by a fleet of 20
natural gas trucks and, and a maintenance team provides cleaning and
repair.

By some measures the program

has been a resounding success. The company says that in its first year it has seen an average of 120,000 bike trips per day, most of them for commutes to work or school. that has pushed Paris to consider interpretation of new bike lanes, and helped to foster a bike culture in a city trying desperately to cut traffic.

The program has additionally turned into something of a cash cow for JCDecaux, the French advertising and PR firm that chipped in $142 million toward setting up the system. It gets to sell billboard advertising at each rental station, and expects to
rake in sales of $94 million per year. The Paris city government plus
gets some cash: $31.5 million from subscriber fees and another $5.5
million in annual advertising royalties.

But there have been problems. Bike theft and damage has exceeded projections, drivers complain that bikers competing for space on city streets have actually increased traffic, and there has been a seven percent jump in bicycle-related deaths since Velib was launched (the company says that isn’t poor considering that bike use is up 24 percent).

Despite these downsides, forward-thinking US cities are watching Velib closely. Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC are all said to be looking into bike programs of their own. With gas prices sucking cash out of our wallets, they may find that lots of commuters willing to give city biking a try.

Photo by Flickr user austinevan

Original post by Dave Demerjian