ctesiphon

Thefts puncture Paris bike scheme

A popular bicycle rental scheme in Paris that has transformed travel in the city has run into problems just 18 months after its successful launch.

Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.

They have been used 42 million times since their introduction but vandalism and theft are taking their toll.

The company which runs the scheme, JCDecaux, says it can no longer afford to operate the city-wide network.

Championed by Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, the bikes were part of an attempt to “green” the capital.

Parisians took to them enthusiastically. But the bikes have suffered more than anticipated, company officials have said.

Hung from lamp posts, dumped in the River Seine, torched and broken into pieces, maintaining the network is proving expensive. Some have turned up in eastern Europe and Africa, according to press reports.

Since the scheme’s launch, nearly all the original bicycles have been replaced at a cost of 400 euros ($519, £351) each.

The Velib bikes – the name is a contraction of velo (cycle) and liberte (freedom) – have also fallen victim to a craze known as “velib extreme”.

Various videos have appeared on YouTube showing riders taking the bikes down the steps in Montmartre, into metro stations and being tested on BMX courses.

Remi Pheulpin, JCDecaux’s director general, says the current contract is unsustainable. “It’s simple. All the receipts go to the city. All the expenses are ours,” he said.

The costs, he said, were “so high that a private business cannot handle it alone, espcially as it’s a problem of public order. If we want the velib set-up to keep going, we’ll have to change the business model,” he told Le Parisien newspaper.

The original contract gave the advertising company a 10-year licence to exploit 1,600 city-wide billboards in return for running the scheme, plus a share in the revenue, estimated at 20m euros for the first year of operation.

City hall has recently agreed to pay towards the costs of replacing the stolen or trashed bicycles but is refusing to bail out the company.

Not all the bicycles receive rough treatment however. One velib repairman reported finding one of the bikes customised with fur covered tyres.

The scheme was modelled on one in Lyon, which appears to have been less troublesome, and has been extended to other cities in France.

It is also being copied overseas with London, San Francisco and Singapore all intending to set up similar schemes.

PARIS CYCLE SCHEME IN NUMBERS
20,000 bicycles
1,250 stations
Cost 400 euros each to replace
7,800 “disappeared”
11,600 vandalised
1,500 daily repairs
Staff recover 20 abandoned bikes a day
Each bike travels 10,000 km a year
42 million users since launch
Source: Velib

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7881079.stm?lss

@PVC King wrote:

Yes given the speed of traffic within the Borough 30 if not more locations that could be classified as major road junctions in a Dublin context could easlily be found that balance junction with virtual carpark. An Example would be the Junction of Booterstown Avenue and the Rock Road or the Stillorgan Road at Whites Cross.

You can’t expect advertising agencies to stump up a million a year with having the capacity to resell that space to advertisers who need exposure in return.

What annoyed me about some of the DCC locations was the complete disregard for the specific siting next to listed buildings or in conservation areas.

Put Wayne where he belongs in the burbs in gridlock where boy racers who can’t race will contemplate a purchase of Adidas.

The two locations you mention are ‘virtual carpark‘ for maybe an hour a day in each direction. For the other 23 hours, they move freely enough that large, internally-illuminated, double-sided scrolling screens would likely be a significant distraction from the primary task of drivers, i.e. driving.

If you’d read the Inspector’s Reports from the ABP Oral Hearing into the JCDecaux/DCC deal, you’d see clearly that road safety considerations were the primary reason for refusal in every single case.

Also, you might want to update your records- it’s not a ‘Borough’ any more, and they’re not called ‘listed buildings’. Too long in exile, PV?

@tfarmer wrote:

And we are all slaves including you. This is the point im making.
…
Everything is a distraction to keep you asleep.
…
It gives you the illusion your free, that you have choice and judging from most people they fall for it hook line and sinker.
…
ponder on that.

Remember that all I am offering is the truth. Nothing more.

@GrahamH wrote:

If it’s any vague consolation

It’s not.

“Paging Messrs Keats & Chapman!”

By the looks of things, the H&M one was applied for in 2007. Reg. Ref. 1491/07. Presumably there was a bit of a backlog in the erection division of JCDecaux.

‘Dublin Central’ has been appealed to the Board. No details yet on pleanala.ie – I’ll post as and when I know more.

That’s from the Robert L. Chapman collection, yes?

I got the book for christmas (edited [?] by Christiaan Corlett- a busy man recently)- well worth a look for any architecture, Dublin, Wicklow, bike and/or photography enthusiasts. The photo of Leeson Street Bridge in particular is a hoot.

In a cajual fashion?

Same question would apply to the tricycle-mounted ones too…