Vélib'- Ten Years Old

On July 15, 2007, then Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë opened 10,600 bikes in 750 self-service rental stations to Parisians and the world.  For only €1 ($1.14 US) a day, one could take unlimited rides of 30 minutes each or less. It seemed to be a transportation revolution.

Vélib' success made the world embrace self-service public bicycles.

It might not have been the first program,
but its notoriety changed the world.

Video on how it all began for Paris

In 2007 there were only around 20 self-service public use bicycle programs throughout the world.  Now ten years later, there are over 1,350. Many of them are direct copies of the JCDecaux design and function seen in Vélib'.

What at first might have seemed a curiosity, automated self-service bicycle rental has turned into a social phenomenon. According to JCDecaux, the current operator of Vélib', every minute 75 Vélib' bikes are rented in Paris. On average each bike is used about 6 times a day. In the last 10 years over 300,000,000 trips were pedaled on Vélib'. Now, there are 300,000 annual subscribers to the system in the City of Lights.

The Next 15 Years

January 2018 will bring, Vélib’ 2.0, with a new design, a new service, and a new operator: the Smoovengo consortium will replace JCDecaux. It will introduce what Smoovengo bills as the "4th generation" in self-service bicycles. This will include 30% of the fleet as electric assisted pedelecs. The maximum speed for the electric assist pedelecs will be set at 25 km/h (15.5 mph).  Weighing 20.6 kg (45 lbs.) the regular pedal new Vélib’ will be "lighter and stronger" than the old one at 22.7 kg (50 lbs.). 

The new "padlock fork will help prevent theft" from stations and while parking away from stations. To abate the annoyance of Parisians, who have found stations full when returning a bike, the system of will allow "depositing bikes at a station even when all the places are already occupied".  Each bike will have "embedded electronics" with a handlebar equipped with an on-board communication system (the Smoove Box) that is self-powered by a dynamo that will allow connecting a smartphone for way-finding and information.

Illustration of the Smoove Box 

Congratulations to Vélib', the old and the new. 

Vive les vélos en libre-service & Vive le 

Vélo Liberté 

images & information: Vélib' (logo & Video) Franceblue l'Express, Smoove

Russell Meddin

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on Public Use Bicycle programs and a complement to The Bike-sharing Blog.
The map can be viewed at www.bikesharingmap.com.

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap   

The Bike-sharing World - Middle of July 2014

After a few sparks in cities around Europe,

Bike-sharing Explodes!

It happened seven years ago this week in Paris.

Happy Anniversary Vélib'

Vélib'

Original

image: Vélib'

Russell Meddin            bikesharephiladelphia.org

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing programs and the complement to The Bike-sharing Blog. The easy web address for viewing the map is www.bikesharingworld.com.

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap

Paris: Vélib' Bike-share Called Into Action To Fight Pollution

Update: 
The offer of the Vélib' 1 days pass at no charge will remain in effect through Monday March 17, 2013. All other city transit is also being offered at no charge to help reduce the pollution by giving alternatives to private motor vehicles. As of the evening of Monday March 17, 2014 over 550,000 Velib' rides were taken to reduce pollution since the offer was made on Maech 13, 2014.

On Thursday March 13, 2014 there was a winter day record of over 135,000 Vélib' trips to help reduce the pollution over Paris.
According to a Vélib' source, 7848 free tickets were dispensed on Friday, March 14th, by 6 PM Paris time, that is close to 2,000 more than the day before!

With the extremely high level of pollition in the French Capital this week, the Mayor of Paris is offering the Vélib' bike-share pass at no charge today and tomorrow. In an effort to reduce the amount of automobile traffic the Mayor is asking residents to leave their cars at home and use Vélib'. For Thursday, March 13th and Friday, March 14th there will be no charge for the 1 day pass at all Vélib' stations according to an official Vélib' web site

Anti-Pollution Measure - One Day Pass Free - March 13 & 14

If you are in Paris March 13th or 14th help reduce the unusual heavy pollution blanketing the City, take Vélib' and take advantage of the free one day pass  which allows 30 minutes of use at no charge each time you take out the bike. Please ride slowly and carefully!

image: Vélib' et Moi

Russell Meddin               bikesharephiladelphia.org

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing and complement to The Bike-sharing Blog. The easy web address for viewing the map is www.bikesharingworld.com.

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap

The Bike-sharing World - Third Week of January 2014

EUROPE:
France:
                           Paris:  The new and the old with Vélib:

From:
GlassCamp at the WebSchoolFactory at the first European glass Hackathon.

How to use it?
When walking, ask glass: "Ok glass, find a bike station." Then, while on the bike, use the go to menu to find your destination. Set up the chronometer to signal the time to return the bike before 30 minutes to avoid the overage charge. Ten minutes before the end of 30 minutes, BikeFinder will direct you to the nearest station. With BikeFinder, there is no need to get out your mobile phone, nor stop the ride in transit. Will this be the way to find bike-sharing stations anywhere in the world, just with voice command and Google Glass?

The  most recent Vélib news letter Vélib et Moi is clarifing the reports of stolen and damaged Vélibs for 2013. The article states that during 2013, 8,000 bikes were stolen or damage of which 87% were recovered or fixed. That means over the course of the year 1,040 bikes were either lost or damaged beyond repair. It states that Vélib stations that have extraordinary high rates of damage or theft are temporarily closed until there is community engagement to stem the situation. Most press reports have only reported the losses and not the recoveries. Even some of the bikes that cast asunder into the river Seine are recovered. To begin 2014, the Vélib fleet on the street is once again up to 18,000 bicycles. 

THE WORLD:

Bicycle Sharing 101

If you are starting a new bike-sharing program:
A friend of The Bike-sharing Blog, Bradley Schroeder, has just publihed a new book: Bicycle Sharing 101: Getting The Wheels Turning. It is worth the read for both the novive and current operators of bike-sharing programs.

Keep in touch with The Bike-sharing World with The Bike-sharing World Map. It is the premiere resource for information on cities with bike-sharing. The easy web address for viewing the map is www.bikesharingworld.com.

Follow the Map on Twitter@BikesharingMap

See the O'Brien Global Bike Share Map which shows real time bike usage in many cities!

images: Vélib

Russell Meddin               bikesharephiladelphia.org

Sixth Year Anniversary of Vélib' - July 15th

Translation: Elisabeth Meddin, Placement: Alexandre Meddin,  Original          

For 6 years Paris' Vélib' had been on The Bike-sharing World Map 

This Map is the #1 resource for bike-sharing systems world wide. It shows new systems coming online which might not be covered in The Bike-sharing Blog. With constant updates, it is  the best way to keep up with the ever changing bike-sharing world.

Follow the Map on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/BikesharingMap

See the O'Brien Global Bike Share Map. It shows real time bike usage in 100 Cities!

image: Vélib' et Moi

Russell Meddin              bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - Mid-April 2013

300,000,000 rides on CycloCity 

CityBike

Vélib'

                                                         
In the 10 years since JCDecaux launched its first bike-share program in Vienna, Austria, 300,000,000 riders have hopped on a JCDecaux-operated service, including CityBike, vélo'v, Sevici, CityCycle, bicloo, Vélib', or another CycloCity bicycle! With 66 cities in 10 countries using a CycloCity bike-share system, JCDecaux is one of the dominate bike-share providers even though it is not their main business. Vélib' in Paris, the largest of the CycloCity systems, accounted for 157,000,000 of these rides according to e-marketing France. Throughout the the world, over 550,00 subscribers have joined one of their systems.

In a review of JCDecaux's CycloCity system, Bourcier.com, states that the 46,536 bicycles in its world wide fleet are responsible for alleviating 33,899 metric tons of CO2 from going into the atmosphere each year.

This proves what we always knew, that bike-sharing is like a breath of fresh air!


New for The Bike-sharing World Map

Follow the Map on Twitter with our new service! https://twitter.com/BikesharingMap

The Bike-sharing World Map is the #1 resource for bike-sharing systems world wide. It shows new systems coming online which might not be covered in The Bike-sharing Blog. With constant updates, it is one of the best ways to keep up with the ever changing bike-sharing world.

images: CityBike-gawista, Vélib'-networkmusings

Russell Meddin              bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World - Mid-September 2012

EUROPE

United Kingdom:
London:

Barclays Cycle Hire is planning to increase its size by 25% with an expansion into west London next year. Speaking to the press, Mayor Boris Johnson said, "Every Londoner should be able to take advantage of our hugely popular and iconic Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which has already brought untold benefits to London's commuters, businesses, and visitors alike." The plan will bring 2,400 more bikes in 200 new stations to boroughs of Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth and Kensington, and Chelsea according to Transport for London.

France:
Strasbourg:

A colloquium, "Bike-sharing: Where are we now?" was held in Strasbourg this week. Representatives from all over France as well as parts of Germany and Switzerland participated. One of the interesting concepts that was discussed is the idea that bike-sharing is a new form of communication. The economist Frédéric Héran, who teaches at the University of Lille, posits that bike-sharing is a way our cities "communicate" about themselves showing that they are vibrant and "trendy." There were also discussions on the change bike-sharing has brought to adhering cities. Most of which were very positive. There were also lively discussions on the relative cost of programs to cities.

Paris:

A Paris police spokesman said that "a large number of investigators" were working to solve a reported form of "class warfare" vandalism to Paris' wildly successful bike-share system. After 50 Vélib' tires were slashed, according to the report, a group claimed that it planned to vandalize the bikes in all areas of the city that were not in working class districts. The police do not view these claims to be inflated and are working tirelessly to stop any more incidents. 


NORTH AMERICA:
Mexico:
Mexico City:

Seventy-two more Ecobici stations are up and running in Mexico City this week as the system opens the start of its Phase II expansion. By the end of the year there will 275 Ecobici stations with 4,000 bicicletas rolling around more areas of the City. On Wednesday, the Head of Government for the Federal District of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, cut the ribbon to open this huge expansion of the Ecobici system according to a city press release. With that one snip of the scissors, Ecobici more than doubled its size. It is hopeful that the ridership will almost triple to 73,000 trips a day with this expansion. The system is open only to residents of Mexico City and had been limited no more than 30,000 subscribers. Phase II is expected to allow up to 100,000 subscribers according to Iván De la Lanza of the Ministry of Environment of Mexico City.

USA:
Madison, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado and Boulder, Colorado:

The B-connected Reciprocity Initiative now includes three B-cycle Cities. Annual subscribers to the Madison, Wisconsin, Boulder, Colorado and Denver, Colorado can use their membership card to take bikes in each other cities. The overage time charges, if any, are at the renting location rates. According to the press release, B-cycle hopes to extend this B-connected Reciprocity Initiative to more of the B-cycle systems in the USA.

Long Beach, California:

Bike Nation the dominate bike-sharing force in the Los Angels Basin has debuted its second generation bike-share bike even before its first generation has hit the streets. In a press release this week Bike Nation shows its new "Made in USA" bike. It expects to create more than 150 new jobs making these bikes to fulfills its plans for the 2,500 bikes in 250 stations for Long Beach, California and the 4,000 bikes in 400 stations for Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Westwood and around Venice Beach, California.  Bike Nation's first deployment of a system which was to begin in Anaheim, California at the end of July, should actually begin operation this month but using the older Bike Nation bike. In Anaheim, there will be 100 bikes in 10 stations to begin, with a goal to increase the size of the system as demand warrants. 

Washington, DC:

For all of you who just can't get enough bike-sharing information, the Pedestrian and Bicycle  Information Center just released the report: Bike Sharing in The United States: State of the Practice and Guide to Implementation. This 68-page report is a good read. The report is available here in PDF form.

ASIA:
Israel:
Tel Aviv:

Reports out of Tel Aviv are that it will not be fun to use Tel-O-Fun on Wednesday, September 26th. Although there is now a compromise, according to The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Minister of Transportation threatened to stop all funding to Tel-O-Fun if it did not close down for the religious holiday of Yom Kippur -- an important Jewish holiday, on that date. The Jewish religion forbids work on Yom Kippur. The compromise is that on Yom Kippur only annual subscribers will be allowed to use the system; casual members will not.


The World:

The Bike-sharing World Map is the #1 resource for bike-sharing systems. It shows new systems which come online which might not be covered in The Bike-sharing Blog. Keep up with the changing bike-sharing world by frequent visits to The Bike-sharing World Map.

images: TfL,Strasbourg, Mexico, B-cycle, BikeNation, Tel-O-Fun

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World -The Second Week of July 2012

EUROPE:
France:
                         Paris

July 15, 2007 Launch Ceremony for Vélib'

The Fifth Anniversary of Vélib': 

On July 15, 2007, bike-sharing went from a little known progressive initiative in a few cities into a World Transportation Phenomenon with the introduction of Vélib'. Vélib' arrived with 11,000 bikes in 750 stations in Paris. Though Paris was not the first̶̶̶—and is now not the biggest—bike-share city, it sparked the revolution that has brought these systems to over 450* cities around the world. Within five years, Vélib' riders have accumulated 130 million trips—with average 110,000 trips every day. The system quickly expanded to 18,500 bikes in 1,700 stations to cover all of Paris and the first ring of its suburbs within 1.5 km. Now there are 224,000 annual subscribers to the system and millions and millions of day passes are sold yearly. Vélib' was modeled after vélo'v in Lyon, France. Subsequently, the Chinese mega systems, the North American bIXI and B-cycle systems and the big European systems were all modeled after Vélib'. World bike-sharing success owes a lot to the success of Vélib'.
Bon Anniversaire!


                          Lyon

 

Vélo'v takes top honors as Europe's best bike-sharing service. 

The German Automobile Club, ADAC, did a survey of 40 bike sharing systems in the European countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,  Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The survey said, Lyon's vélo'v is #1.

Testing of the systems was performed in May 2012 as part of the ADAC program for advising travelers. Each system was evaluated on Accessibility (35% of the evaluation), Directions (26%), Ease of use (25%) and Quality of the bikes (14%). Each of these categories had the following choices: Very Good, Good, Acceptable, Poor and Very Poor. Paris' Vélib' came in second overall.


Spain:
                        Valencia

Valenbisi on Monday afternoon July 16, 2012 starts offering supplemental insurance to its bike-share riders. This is in addition to the regular insurance that Valenbisi carries for every rental.  For an additional €9 ($11 US) subscribers can purchase liability and accident insurance. This will cover the insured for any third party bicycling incidents within the city limits of Valencia. The policy pays claims that are brought against Valenbisi and/or against the user by a third party or parties involved in the incident. The claim maximums are: personal injury caused to third parties: €300,000 ($367,200 US) per claim, property damage caused to third parties: €50,000 ($61,200 US) per claim. In addition, there is compensation in the event of accidental death: up to €30,000 ($36,700 US), and compensation for permanent disability by an accident: up to €60,000 ($73,450 US.) This could be a very good precedent for all bike-sharing systems. It is possibly a best practice to emulate.

NORTH AMERICA:
USA:
               Charlotte, North Carolina

Bike-sharing in the United States got a kick start with the Humana Freewhelin' first generation systems at the 2008 National Presidential Conventions in Denver, Colorado and Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a result, Nice Ride Minnesota and Denver B-cycle are flourishing.
Now, in a run up to its September 2012 Democratic National Convention, Charlotte, North Carolina launched a third generation B-cycle system on July 12, 2012. Charlotte B-cycle will have 200 bikes across 20 stations available in the Center City area within a few weeks. The system—offering only 2 pass types—is a bit pricey with a day pass at $8 and an annual subscription at $65. After the initial no charge 30 minutes, each additional 1/2 hour is $4.  

As with the the earlier 2008 Political Conventions, the Charlotte system is being mostly paid for by the health industry. Although created by the Charlotte Center City Partnership, Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina is the lead sponsor of the system with Carolinas HealthCare System and Verizon sponsoring a smaller portion.


The Charlotte media is calling Charlotte B-cycle the first major bike-sharing system in North Carolina and the largest in the Southeast. That title of the largest should have been applied to The Chattanooga Bike Transit System, in Tennessee. Unfortunately, that system, originally scheduled to begin on April 25, 2012, still isn't open for public use. 


* The Bike-sharing World Map
images: Vélib' vélo'v JCDeacaux #1 El Mundo, WFAE FM and Charlotte B-cycle

Russell Meddin     bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike-sharing World: First Week of August 2011

A lot has been going on in the Bike-sharing World over the past few weeks. Let's get started.

Good News in Europe:

Paris: Vélib' celebrated its 4e anniversaire last month by now averaging 75,000 daily trips on the ubiquitous grey bikes. After a period of flat growth, the first quarter of this year has seen the greatest increase of usage yet, and 20,000 new subscribers according to France3.

London: For Boris Bike's first birthday a few days ago, Mayor Boris Johnson confirmed that Barclays is extending its sponsorship of the system with another £25 million ($41 million USD) to expand the popular program into the western Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham in 2013. This is in addition to the current eastern expansion for next summer's Olympics. Barclays Cycle Hire, with only one forth the number of bikes as Paris, realizes around 25,000 trips daily, around 1/3 of the 75,000 in Paris. That is definitely something to bank on!

Newcastle on Tyne, UK: A new mobile phone bike-share scheme, Scratchbike, has begun with 150 bikes tethered to 15 racks in the central Newcastle. The program is sponsored by NE1, the Newcastle Business Improvement Company. It is scheduled to be a city-wide service, which incidentally began as a student-run program at Newcastle University.

Dublin, Ireland: Dublinbikes two weeks ago reached an all time high of 6,280 rentals in one day! That's around 12 trips per bike per day! Dublinbikes is at the top of the list of the most successful bike-sharing systems in the world. This summer it has added 4 new stations and is adding another 100 bikes to bring its fleet up to 550.

Two new bike rental schemes make riding the Inter-City Rails easier:

Belgium- Blue-bike recently set up 35 locations with around 1,000 bikes at train stations in cities and towns throughout the northern part of Belgium. It's mostly a pick up and return to same location system. It is similar to the original concept of the Deutsche Bahn Call-a-Bike system at rail stations.  As Call-a-Bike has matured, it has become a multiple fixed locations bike-sharing system in many German cities. One may pick up a bike at one location and return it to another. The service is similar to The Netherlands' OV-fiets service.The Bike-sharing Blog hopes the same for Blue-bike as it matures. An online sign up for a membership card is needed to rent these bikes. The card costs €31 ($45 USD) and the daily rate of €3.50 ($5 USD). Also in Belgium, a bike-sharing system with 240 bikes is coming to the city of Namurs.

United Kingdom: Brompton Docks is a "left luggage lockers" folding bike rental system piloted this summer at a suburban London train station. These Brompton folding bikes must be replaced in the same set of lockers from which they were removed. Renting cost starts at £4 ($6.50 USD) for one day to £1.60 ($2.60 USD) for 23 days or more. As with the Belgium system, a membership and a smart card are needed.

And don't miss the OBIS handbook:

The Optimizing Bike Sharing in European Cities (OBIS) handbook has three years worth of data from studying bike-sharing in 10 European counties to identify the best practices, success factors, limits and market potentials, and the optimized strategies. This guide has published in it the authors' key findings and recommendations as a comprehensive manual in the form of a handbook. Read The Bike-sharing Blog's March posting about the OBIS Project and Final Conference.

Download a copy of this handbook here.

Bad News in Europe:

The ax falls on bike-sharing in Aix-en-Provence, France. After almost four years V'Hello said its last adieu in May to the citizens of this southern French city. With only 143 users, the municipal government felt it was financially better to cancel its contract for the 200-bike, 16-station service with JCDecaux rather than to keep it. According to LePoint, even with low usage, the outdoor advertising company wanted to charge Aix-en-Provence over €400 ($575 USD) more per bike per year than it charges Paris to maintain the system.

Good news in Eurasia:

Batumi, Georgia: This resort town on the Black Sea now has a 120-bike and 10-station bike-sharing program as BatumVelo began three weeks ago. The program uses the Smoove technology. Whether one subscribes or is a casual user, there is no free usage time. For every 15 minutes of use the subscriber pays 0.50GEL ($0.30 USD) or the casual user pays 0.75GEL ($0.45 USD) whether going to the beach or pedaling around town.

Good news in North America:

Long Beach, New York: The South Beach Miami DecoBike has landed a 400 bike and 40 station contract making a beach head in New York State. Long Beach, New York, which is just next to New York City on Long Island, is scheduled to have its fully operational bike-sharing program in September. Getting to the sands of the Atlantic Ocean from the Long Island Railroad Station will be a breeze on a DecoBike Long Beach.

While talking about New York, for the last two years at Summer Streets in New York City, there have been bike-sharing demonstrations as part of the activities. Will there be a bike-sharing contract announcement this year?

The Bike-sharing Blog expects Chattanooga, Tennessee also to begin a bike sharing program soon. According to Outdoor Chattanooga, there will be 30 bike stations located around the central business district, the UTC campus and the North Shore. The system will use the same style bike as the Washington, DC/Arlington, Boston, and Minneapolis programs.

Good News in Asia:

Hangzhou, China: According to the HHN Information Center, the Hangzhou Public Transport Company says that, as of now, there are usually around 200,000 daily usages of the system. Generally, each bike is used around 5 times a day.The the highest single day usage was 320,000 rides. There are currently 2,416 service points for 60,600 bicycles.

To keep up with the ever changing Bike-sharing World, keep referring to the The Bike-sharing World Map

images: Vélib', Barclays Cycle Hire, Blue-bike, Brompton Docks, V'Hello, Batum Velo by Jan Malinowski, DecoBike Long Beach

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org