Vélib 'metropolis

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A Vélib 'station in Paris

Vélib 'Métropole (formerly Vélib ) is a public bike rental system that went into operation in 2007 in Paris . The name Vélib 'is a made-up word made up of the terms bicycle ( vélo ) and freedom ( liberté ). The system, with over 13,000 bicycles at more than 1200 fixed rental stations in April 2019 in Paris and the municipalities around the French capital, is considered the largest of its kind in the world; it has been operated by the Smovengo consortium since January 1, 2018 as part of a concession awarded by the city administration ; until then, JCDecaux had the license to operate.

background

On February 27, 2007, the Paris City Council signed a 10-year operating contract with Somupi, a subsidiary of the JCDecaux group, to install 20,600 bicycles at 1,451 rental stations. When the system was launched on July 15, 2007, around 7500 bicycles were available at 750 stations in the Paris metropolitan area. From 2009 the system was also expanded to 29 neighboring communities around Paris. For example, another 4,500 bicycles have been added to 300 stations outside the Paris city limits. Together with the consistent expansion of the stations in Paris itself, around 18,000 bicycles were available to users at 1202 stations in 2010. The originally gray Vélib 'wheels were an integral part of the cityscape and could not be overlooked. Even if the Vélib 'system was not the first of its kind and is based mainly on the positive experience of the Vélo'v in Lyon , also developed by JCDecaux in 2005 , the Vélib' system has the modern bike rental systems because of its size and visibility made known worldwide in Paris and brought considerable media interest to the then Parisian mayor and mentor of the Vélib 'system, Bertrand Delanoë .

Due to increased costs, partly due to widespread theft and vandalism of the bikes, partly due to the expansion of the system to surrounding communities, the contract was renegotiated in 2009. Nevertheless, the costs could not be brought under control and the city administration of Paris under Mayor Anne Hidalgo decided to insist on the new award of the concession at lower costs for Paris in 2017, including innovations such as electronic tracking of bicycles and electric bicycles (for part of the of the fleet). After the original contract with JC Decaux had been extended by 10 months to the end of 2017, the decision was made in April 2017 for Smovengo, a consortium led by the bicycle rental company Smoove with the Spanish public transport operator Moventia , the car park operator Indigo and the automotive repair chain Mobivia , which will be discontinuing operations Took over January 1, 2018 with new bikes and renewed stations.

New Velib contract (Smovengo from 2018)

On January 1, 2018, the new operator Smovengo officially started operations under the new name Velib Métropol in Paris and an area expanded to 68 municipalities in the periphery with new, lighter and less vandalism-prone, and electronically locatable wheels with a 15- Years of extended concession. 30% of the fleet are now available as e-bikes, marked in turquoise (compared to the classic bikes, which are now green). With the restart, the prices were also increased significantly, whereby the previous principle of free of charge (without taking into account the susceptible subscription) was largely retained for the first 30 minutes.

How it works and tariffs

New since 2018 is the possibility of using it without a subscription, whereby costs of 1 euro (2 euros for the e-bike) are incurred from the first half hour. Otherwise, a subscription must first be taken out before using the bikes. Short-term subscriptions (available directly at every station and also online) and a number of season tickets (only online / dispatch by post) are offered. Short-term subscriptions are available for 24 hours (5 euros) or for seven days (15 euros). In addition to the respective subscription, the user must then pay a time-based amount for effective use. However, the first half hour is then free. The next half hour costs 1 euro. The price for an annual subscription “V Libre”, “V Plus” or “V Max” is between 37.20 euros and 99.60 euros, depending on the scope of services. The deposit is 300 euros. A borrowed Vélib 'can be returned at any station, so it does not have to be brought back to the starting point. With some subscription variants, free minutes are given, depending on whether the station is full when it is rented or empty when it is returned.

Reboot issues and competition

The installation of new rental stations is necessary for the new bikes. At the start on January 1, 2018, 600 rental stations (out of a total of over 1400 planned stations) should already be available. In fact, only around 60 stations were operational in the first few weeks of January 2018. The operator responded with substantial discounts for the approximately 300,000 existing subscribers. At the same time, four new competitors ( Gobee Bike from Hong Kong, Ofo and Mobike from China and OBike from Singapore) competed in Paris with stationless (“free-floating”) rental bikes . However, Gobee withdrew in mid-February 2018 due to excessive damage caused by vandalism; The other operators of stationless bicycles also gradually withdrew from Paris, so that at the beginning of 2019 Velib was the only nationwide operator of rental bicycles, but now with competition from the newly emerged stationless electric scooters , for which several operators in Paris from summer 2018 had become active (6 operators in January 2019). Due to the delay in the installation of the rental stations, the number of users fell (approx. 67,000 daily at the end of March 2019 compared to over 100,000 before), and the number of subscribers also fell to 163,000 (from almost 300,000 in 2017 under the previous operators). Smovengo promised to increase the proportion of electric bikes to 50%.

First Velib contract (JCDecaux 2007-2017)

functionality

Registration and tariffs

A paid subscription had to be taken out before using the bikes. You could choose between a short-term subscription (available directly at every station and also online from July 2011) and a season ticket (only online / sent by post). Short-term subscriptions were available for 24 hours (1.70 euros) or for seven days (8 euros). The price for an annual subscription to Vélib 'Classique was 29 euros. With the introduction of a new tariff system at the end of April 2011, an annual Vélib 'Passion subscription was also available for 39 euros, with which users could cycle for 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes as usual. Users and scholarship holders under 26 years of age received discounts. In addition, a time-based amount was charged for use, but the first half an hour was always free. After that, the next half hour cost 1 euro, the next half hour 2 euros and every additional half hour (with the same bike) costs 4 euros. As in other cities with similar public bike rental systems, this progressive tariff system should end the majority of trips within half an hour and the bike should be returned to a station instead of locking it up and leaving it useless for others. These staggered time tariffs were not continued after 2017.

In any case, a deposit of 150 euros had to be made (by credit card or check), which will be debited from the account within 24 hours in the event of non-return. Only credit cards with an EMV chip are accepted at the stations . Conventional credit cards that only have magnetic strips are not accepted. Short-term subscriptions have also been available online since July 2011, so that tourists without a credit card with a chip can also use the system.

Examples of tariffs (in conjunction with a Vélib 'Classique subscription):

Duration 30 min 1 h 1 h 30 2 h 5 h 10 h 20 h
Tariff free 1 € 3 € 7 € € 31 71 € 151 €

Stations marked with the 'V +' symbol (see Vélib 'website) were higher up (e.g. on a hill), where the driver was given 15 extra minutes to return the vehicle if it started from a normal station. This system was converted from 2018 under the new operator by a system of free minutes, depending on whether the station is full or empty when renting or returning.

Cycles

Vélib 'rental bikes in Paris

The bicycles offered in Paris corresponded to those offered as part of the Cyclocity system in other cities equipped by JCDecaux (including Lyon, Brussels, Vienna ( Citybike Wien ) and Dublin). They were produced near Tószeg in Hungary by a subsidiary of the Dutch Accell Group and are said to have had a unit price of around 1000 euros. A Vélib 'weighs 22.5 kg.

financing

Following the example of Lyon, the city of Paris decided to combine bicycle rental and outdoor advertising . As part of a public-private partnership, it leaves its 1628 outdoor advertising spaces or billboards and their rental income to the operator for a term of 10 years. In return, the company installs the system, operates it and takes care of maintenance. In addition, JCDecaux paid part of its income to the city and does not charge any fees for advertising campaigns carried out by the city administration in the public interest on these billboards. According to the original contract, the income from the rental and from the annual, weekly and monthly tickets was also entirely due to the city.

At the end of 2009, the operating contract was renegotiated with the city of Paris and the financial conditions were changed, especially with a view to the high rate of vandalism and complaints from users. The cost of repairing and replacing destroyed or lost bicycles has seriously disrupted the economic balance of the system just under two years after it was launched. According to the new terms of the contract, the city of Paris paid JCDecaux 400 euros for each bicycle affected by vandalism (as soon as at least 4% and a maximum of 25% of the vehicle fleet are affected). In addition, the city was no longer entitled to the entire rental income, the operator received a share of 35 to 50% depending on the volume of the proceeds. At the same time, JCDecaux committed itself to a better distribution of the bicycles in the city area and assured that the waiting time on the telephone hotline would be limited to a maximum of 2 minutes and that written inquiries would be answered within 15 days.

workload

Within the first year after the system was launched, a total of just over 200,000 users booked an annual subscription. According to information from the city and operator, the number of subscribers was stable at around 160,000 (as of March 2011). Overall, d. H. including day and week tickets, by mid-September 2010 over 85 million trips had been made with the Vélib 'bikes. According to the city council, 76% of users had an annual subscription, around 20% of Vélib 'users were younger than 26.

At the beginning of June 2011 the threshold of 100 million journeys was exceeded; in the first quarter of 2011 alone it was 5.5 million. On average, around 110,000 loans were made every day.

Problems

Even distribution in the urban area

Since a Vélib 'must be returned by hanging it in a parking space connected to a station, it can happen that a station is full and the user cannot return his bike at the desired location. In this case, the user can have an additional 15 free minutes credited to the station, and the parking situation at other stations in the area can be viewed. The problem of occupied stations can arise, for example, in the morning in the immediate vicinity of large office locations or after work in purely residential areas. It also happens that a station is empty and no bike is available. This is especially the case in higher-lying areas of the city. In order to make the approach to these stations attractive, most of the higher stations were so-called plus stations. If the user returned their bike to one of these stations, the first 45 minutes of any later trip were free instead of the usual 30 minutes; Under the new operator, a new system came into effect in 2018, after users of certain subscriptions are credited 3 free minutes each time they rent bikes from full stations or leave a bike at an empty station.

JCDecaux stated that the automatic regulation worked in 90 percent of the cases and only around 10 to 12 percent of the bikes had to be relocated. This was done with the help of 20 small natural gas-powered vans with a capacity of 20 bicycles each and two buses that were decommissioned and retrofitted by RATP , each with a capacity of 50 bicycles.

vandalism

Vélib 'bicycles marked defective by users by reversing the saddle in Paris

A major problem for the Vélib 'system arises from the failure of the bicycles due to vandalism . According to the operator, more than 1,500 repairs are carried out every day, most of them directly at the stations. 200 bikes, i.e. around 1% of the vehicle fleet, are prepared every day in one of ten workshops. A workshop is located on a ship that travels up and down the Seine . In this way, the broken bicycles can be flexibly loaded onto the ship at various locations within the city and repaired there.

The operator states that at the end of October 2009, 80 percent of the Vélib 'put into service in 2006 were either damaged or stolen. In 2008, the vandalism rate increased by 54 percent compared to the previous year. These numbers far exceed the assumptions of JCDecaux and the city of Paris, who had calculated a failure rate of 4 percent.

In November 2009, only about 14,000 bicycles were finally available. In the course of this situation, the operating contract was changed, so that the city of Paris now pays around 400 euros per stolen bicycle. In addition, an information campaign was started to encourage users to be more mindful. At the end of March 2010, 19,600 bicycles were available again. To warn other users before borrowing a defective Vélib ', users turn the saddle over. A correspondingly marked wheel is recognized as unusable.

Traffic safety

The first traffic accident in which a Vélib 'user was killed occurred on October 18, 2007. On August 7, 2009, on the occasion of the first expansion of the system to surrounding communities, the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, pointed out that since its inception Eleven cyclists had fatal accidents from Vélib 'in Paris, seven of them were on a Vélib'. At the same time, however, 55 million journeys have been made on the Vélib 'to date. Almost every fatal accident involves trucks whose drivers state that they did not see the cyclist when turning because of the blind spot .

See also

Web links

Commons : Vélib '  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Le Parisien: Vélib: l'opérateur Smovengo n'a pas tenu ses promesses , April 1, 2019
  2. ↑ Vélib 'peine à trouver un second souffle , in Le Figaro , March 25, 2010
  3. ↑ Challenges: La vérité sur… Smoove, le gagnant du Vélib'2 , July 2, 2017, accessed on January 12, 2018 (French)
  4. ↑ lagazettedescommunes.com: Pourquoi JCDecaux a perdu le contrat du Vélib '2.0 , April 3, 2017, accessed on January 12, 2018 (French)
  5. ↑ Subscriptions. In: velib-metropole.fr . Smovengo, 2018, accessed August 14, 2018 (French).
  6. ↑ Les Echos: Paris: la grogne monte envers le nouvel opérateur du Vélib ' , January 9, 2018, accessed on January 15, 2018 (in French)
  7. ↑ Le Monde: L'entreprise de vélos en libre-service Gobee.bike contrainte d'arrêter ses activités en France , February 25, 2018, accessed on February 27, 2018 (French)
  8. ↑ C-News: Paris: what are the 6 opérateurs de trottinettes électriques en libre-service de la capitale? , January 15, 2018
  9. ↑ a b c From commissioning in July 2007 to the end of April 2011, the prices for short-term subscriptions were 1 and 5 euros respectively. velib.paris.fr : Vélib '- subscriptions & tariffs. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 23, 2011 ; Retrieved April 27, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.velib.paris.fr
  10. ^ Through Paris by bike , on Deutschlandfunk, October 14, 2007
  11. ↑ twoday.net: The city ​​of love becomes the city of bicycles
  12. ↑ ladepeche.fr: Les Vélib 'sont fabriqués dans la campagne hongroise
  13. ^ A b Paris Embraces Plan to Become City of Bikes , in The Washington Post, March 23, 2007
  14. ↑ Vélib change de Braquet , in Le Parisien 23 November, 2009
  15. ↑ http://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/le-coup-de-pompe-de-velib-19-09-2010-1073814.php , in Le Parisien , September 19, 2010
  16. ↑ a b c http://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/paris-velib-change-ses-tarifs-25-03-2011-1375660.php , in Le Parisien , March 25, 2011
  17. ↑ http://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/le-coup-de-pompe-de-velib-19-09-2010-1073814.php , in Le Parisien , September 19, 2010
  18. ↑ paris.fr : Vélib ': et le 100millionième est ... June 6, 2011, accessed on June 7, 2011 .
  19. ↑ blog.velib.paris.fr : La régulation, succès et ambitions. (No longer available online.) June 30, 2011, archived from the original on July 4, 2011 ; Retrieved July 8, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.velib.paris.fr
  20. ↑ Vélib 'peine à trouver un second souffle , in Le Figaro , March 25, 2010
  21. ↑ Reality Proves a Setback for Cheap Bike Rentals in Paris. In: The New York Times . October 30, 2009
  22. ↑ Reality Proves a Setback for Cheap Bike Rentals in Paris. In: The New York Times . October 30, 2009
  23. ↑ Premier accident mortel à Vélib ' , in Libération , October 19 of 2007.
  24. ↑ Réaction d'Annick Lepetit suite à l'accident de Vélib 'à Montrouge , 7th August, 2009.