The Velib Way in Paris
A public bike rental system that actually works?
To be honest, when I first heard of Paris’ Velib bikes, I was a bit amused. Especially when I heard that they actually use trucks to pick up bikes in the lower areas of the city to drop bring them to empty stations that are further up the hills. How ecological is this really?
When I actually tried them I changed my mind.
Fair enough: Not everyone apreciates their Velibs as much as its inventors might have dreamt of -quite some of the bikes you find at Velib stations are damaged and with a big group of people it is difficult to find enough bikes. Also it is not easy to find parking space for many people since each station has a limited amount of stations.
The basic concept however seems to work. There are plenty of Velib stations all over Paris, prices are affordable and you can get your Velib subscription via your metro pass. Even some of the detail has been thought of: If you want to park at a station that is already full, you can get 15min for free to find an alternative station. Something we can currently only dream of in Brussels.
I’ve heard there are similar systems in other cities around the globe (e.g. Geneva). Let me know in case you’ve got experiences with similar systems!
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It looks like Brussels is catching up as well!
on May 16th Brussels’ new bike rental system Villo has been introduced. Has anyone had experiences with the bikes so far?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
The Velib system has been operational for well over a year now but there are still at least two main issues. Firstly, there is a technical problem which means that sometimes people get overcharged and bikes are not always recognised as having been returned. Secondly, and linking to the problem of using “trucks to pick up bikes in the lower areas of the city to drop bring them to empty stations”, you can find that the place where you want to park is full so you have to park elsewhere and are therefore not at your destination which can cost you both time and money if you subsequently go over your 30 minute limit.
The UN are parnering an upcoming ‘Velo City’ event in Brussels which aims to promote bile use in bothe Brussels and Belgium itself. More information can be found on the following links: http://www.velo-city2009.com; http://www.dringdring.be/
May 7th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
No need anymore to go to Paris for the Velib experience: a simmilar system is being installed in our very own Brussels. It’s called “Villo” and should be operational this month (may). Here’s what it will look like: http://www.brusselnieuws.be/artikels/stadsnieuws/cyclocity-wordt-villo-en-breidt-fors-uit
Let’s hope it’ll be a bigger succes than the former rent-a-bike tryout. The first 30 minutes will be for free, so I’m pretty confident more people will use the new villo’s.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Great
. Although Brussels has more mountains so it will be challenging.
Has any of you ever tried the system here in Brussels?
May 11th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Moutains? In Brussels?! Where? =:-))
You probably mean the small hill to get out of the valley… =;-)) Well, they even thought about that! There is a plan to install a (how should I call it) “foot-elevator” to allow cyclists to get up the Coudenberg-hill without sweating to much. Could be a funny attraction also.
May 14th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I went out to make a video to show how the CycloCity scheme worked earlier this year. Of course they took the bikes away and grubbed up all the stations the week before. My blog post on it is here: http://www.travelcrunch.co.uk/2009/03/19/making-a-public-transport-video-in-brussels/
I have been watching closely as the new Villo! Stations are installed. Perhaps I’ll try again then.
May 14th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Thanks for the link, John.
Where is the video? Did you upload it somewhere? Would be interesting to see it.
CHeers,
Mira
May 14th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I have not finished editing it. My first 2 efforts at video were poor so I need to spend a bit more time learning how to use the video editor before uploading another one.