Notes on Velib

Ryan met with the people who run the Velib program in Paris and shared with us some interesting things he learned. He also promised to post photos which I will link to when they become available.

Paris is mostly flat which makes both it a good candidate for public bikes and the type of bike that would be needed relatively simple (you don’t need a lot of gears). In case of vandalism, they have to be indestructible. All working parts like the chain and the gears are covered up with metal casing. Even the nib to ring the bell has been replaced with a turning wheel with no parts sticking out that could break off. Each bike also has 3 gears, a basket, an adjustable seat, a small lock with its own key, and lights on the front and the back.

The system for maintenance is rather involved. If a bike is repeatedly checked out and then returned, its status changes to unavailable (indicated by a red light on the screen of the parking apparatus). Bruno told me that if you find a bike is broken, the guerilla why to indicate that is to turn the seat backwards. Tools and spare parts are kept in a compartment in the pavement under where the fleets of bikes are parked. More complicated maintenance and restocking of these compartments are handled by barge that floats from station to station along the river Seine.

The program employs 440 people – the equivalent of 280 FTE. Mechanics wear uniforms of maroon pants and black tops. All bicycle parts are identical because all bikes are identical. So, the inside of the barge is filled with piles of these parts: wheels, pedals, chains, handlebars, etc. The mechanics look very busy and professional, and the barge immaculate in Ryan’s photos. Most of the bike pods are near the Seine, but those that aren’t are served by trucks and are close to the edge of Paris anyway. I found it wise to check the chain, tires, and brakes before checking out a bike – many had a problem in one of those areas.

The cost to rent a bike increases over time to encourage turnover. The first 30 minutes is free. The next is one euro. The 3rd 30 minutes is 2 euros. The 4th is 4 euros, etc. If a person needs a bike for a day-long ride, they should rent it from a shop. These bikes are for transportation. I also heard that it was 150 euros charge if you failed to return a bike and 6 months in jail if you stole one. The night I had dinner with Tina and Bruno, Bruno took a bike so that his transportation wouldn’t cost anything. Tina and I paid for the Metro.

Like mine, Ryan and Ellen said that their experience using the bikes wasn’t perfect. They checked out one bike that was broken; so, they returned it. Then, the system wouldn’t allow them to check out another bike because it hadn’t yet recorded that they’d returned the first broken one for about 30 minutes (it supposed to take 5). Meanwhile, someone else checked out and then promptly returned that same broken bike indicating that they system had at least recorded that bikes return within its own parking system if not communicated that information to the other bicycles. After the second return, the light turned red and the bike recorded as out of circulation. If Ryan and Ellen had been in a hurry, they would have had to find another way to travel.

As with my experience, sometimes there are no bikes available. Tina said that a more common problem is having nowhere to park them once you have reached a popular destination. One time, they locked up the bikes and went for dinner waiting for a station to open up. I cost them ~3 euros.

Of course, I stood on the corner and counted bicycles. I found that slightly fewer than half of the bicycles on the road were Velib. I would like to assert that this indicates a doubling of the bicycle mode split, but Serge (Muriel’s boyfriend) said he got rid of his own bike (which he used to ride around Paris for transportation) when the program began. He said it’s easier to use the Velibs because you can take them just one way and use the Metro (or other mode) for the other leg of your journey due to rain or other inconvenience, and he doesn’t have to maintain them. His own bike always had a flat, and he didn’t know how to fix it himself.

I feel more confident asserting that the Velibs get people on bikes who may have never ridden one otherwise. I remember being amazed at how many bicycles were on the road when I visited shortly after the 1997 Metro strike. At the time, Juliette (a real parisienne) confirmed my observation that more people were riding for transportation.

But most of these people are not paying for the Metro, so doesn’t that cause a decline in public transit revenues? I don’t know, but I can cite a few advantages to the program:
• Improved public health
• Putting/keeping people/eyes on the streets – a friend recently posted to one of my carfree lists about how refreshing it was to see old ladies walking around Paris by themselves at night.
• Slowing traffic for all living things in the city to be safer.

Another important question on my mind is if this kind of program would work in the states. The Velib program does not provide helmets. Given the litigious nature of US society, I fear we would need to figure out how to provide helmets hygienically before a program like this would fly here.