In brief: Facts and figures about Paris Velib' almost two years after the beginning…

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Matthieu Desiderio

Since its implementation in the French capital city on July 15, 2007, it is now time to give a couple facts and figures about the free-access bike system developed by advertising company JCDecaux subsidiary Cyclocity. Velib’ system is available 24/7 in 1451 stations spread in Paris city’s, approximately every 300 meters, providing its users with 20,000+ bikes. When implementing the system after winning a trial against its direct opponent Clear Channel concerning the public procurement process, JCDecaux estimated the advertising contract revenues would be worth €60 million annually while the cost of Velib’ would be approximately €40 to 50 million a year…

However, after a couple of months of operation, the viability of the system has been proven endangered by the cost of maintenance… Around 1,500 bikes are repaired every day and these costs are definitely not compensated by user’s fares. According to internal sources, every bike wocould cost around €2,500 to JCDecaux, whereas only €1,000 were included in the business plan and budget.

As of today, the estimates are impressive: up to 11,600 bikes vandalized, 7,800 bikes that disappeared, and more than 3,200 complaints filed by JCDecaux for theft or vandalization. These alarming figures should however be put aside the large number of daily users (78,000 in average) and the number of kilometers travelled per bike per year (estimated at 10,000 km/year!). The quality of bikes even if necessary for users to enjoy a pleasant ride is not only a matter of maintenance and people need to be conscious they have to care about the vehicle they use, as any other mean of public transportation, as if it was a train, a bus, or a subway…

References

Article: Vandalisme : Vélib’, un service pour tous, à chacun d’en prendre soin !, Velib Newsletter : here
Article: Le Vélib’, si populaire mais si cher, lefigaro.fr, June 24, 2008: here

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