The NY Times has an article (thanks to Jeff) that updates the problems Velib has been reportedly having with vandalism and theft. This is a rehashing of the same story from last winter. At that time Streetsblog claimed JCDecaux was just claiming problems for negotiation purposes. Not sure if that is still the case, if it ever was.
Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many others are being spirited away for urban joy rides, then ditched by roadsides, their wheels bent and tires stripped.With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix them.
Some think this is a class war battleground.
Bruno Marzloff, a sociologist who specializes in transportation, said, “One must relate this to other incivilities, and especially the burning of cars,” referring to gangs of immigrant youths burning cars during riots in the suburbs in 2005.
He said he believed there was social revolt behind Vélib’ vandalism, especially for suburban residents, many of them poor immigrants who feel excluded from the glamorous side of Paris.
Nonetheless the program is a success
Used mainly for commuting in the urban core of the city, the Vélib’ program is by many measures a success.
Daily use averages 50,000 to 150,000 trips, depending on the season, and the bicycles have proved to be a hit with tourists, who help power the economy.
Still, with more than 63 million rentals since the program was begun in mid-2007, the Vélib’ is an established part of Parisian life, and the program has been extended to provide 4,000 Vélib’s in 29 towns on the city’s edges.
So despite the increasing costs, Paris and JCDecaux are pressing on. The company invested about $140 million to set up the system and provides a yearly fee of about $5.5 million to Paris, which also gets rental fees for the bikes. In return, the company’s 10-year contract allows it to put up 1,628 billboards that it can rent.
But vandalism is a problem that must be addressed.
Although JCDecaux will not discuss money figures, the expected date for profitability has been set back. But the City of Paris has agreed to pay JCDecaux about $600 for each stolen or irreparably damaged bike if the number exceeds 4 percent of the fleet, which it clearly does.“We miscalculated the damage and the theft,” said Albert Asséraf, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux, the outdoor-advertising company that is a major financer and organizer of the project. “But we had no reference point in the world for this kind of initiative.”
At least 8,000 bikes have been stolen and 8,000 damaged so badly that they had to be replaced — nearly 80 percent of the initial stock, Mr. Asséraf said.JCDecaux must repair some 1,500 bicycles a day. The company maintains 10 repair shops and a workshop on a boat that moves up and down the Seine.
Hey, this could be a cure for 10% unemployment. Despite making the bikes stronger and running an anti-vandalism ad campaign, vandalism went up 54% in 2008.
Some Vélib’s have been found hanging from lampposts, dumped in the Seine, used on the streets of Bucharest or resting in shipping containers on their way to North Africa.
Finding a decent one is now something of an urban treasure hunt. Géraldine Bernard, 31, of Paris rides a Vélib’ to work every day but admits having difficulties lately finding functioning bikes.
On the upside, neither DC nor Montreal have had these kind of problems, so maybe it's just the French. The word vandalism actually comes from France, though originally it was used to describe what we would call terrorists.
Actually, _vandal_ is of Germanic origin, through Latin. According to my Webster's, Vandals were "an East Germanic tribe that ravaged Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa and sacked Rome" in the 5th C. AD. (A Vandal is not to be confused with a Hooligan,"name of an Irish family in Southwark, London.")
Posted by: Nancy | November 01, 2009 at 07:37 PM
Right. Vandal is German, but calling the act of destruction "Valdalism" is French. It was a derogatory reference to the Vandals.
Posted by: Washcycle | November 01, 2009 at 08:04 PM
I cannot understand why these bikes are $3500.
What is so special about their design or manufacture? Even if "specially designed" I would assume you could get a discount on an order of the 20,000 apparently in use. Why not just buy a regular hybrid bike, and retrofit whatever smart tags are needed to ensure that they work within the system.
I ask this because it would be sad if a possibly good idea like bike sharing goes down because of reasons entirely separate from the basic concept.
Posted by: SJE | November 01, 2009 at 09:20 PM
In the article they mention that the bicycles are made sturdier and heavier. And I know they like to use unique sizes of things so that people can't, for example, steel a wheel and put it on their bike. It won't fit. But I'm not sure if that is the full answer.
Posted by: Washcycle | November 01, 2009 at 10:24 PM
I think the problem may very well be that their ubiquity may make them to appear of less value. I think as the programs age in North America, we may see this problem ourselves.
Posted by: Phil Lepano | November 01, 2009 at 11:55 PM
Heavier bicycles are more expensive? I'm rich!
Posted by: Contrarian | November 02, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Sturdier and heavier? This sounds crazy.
I found Schwinn hybrids online at Walmart for $199. I doubt that the Velibs are 17.5x more sturdy. At $199, you could replace them every 6mo and turn a handy profit over the Velib.
Posted by: SJE | November 02, 2009 at 08:54 AM
Perhaps the Velibs are built by French artisans in Burgundy, or a special order of monks. "Brother Matthew, hand me that cantilver brake"
Posted by: SJE | November 02, 2009 at 09:00 AM
it's the euro to dollar conversion. These cost 14.28 euros each.
Posted by: JTS | November 02, 2009 at 09:30 AM
DC doesn't have this problem because SmartBikes are ugly as sin! Pretty smart deterrent, if you ask me.
Posted by: Taylor | November 02, 2009 at 10:39 AM
They're word was "solid", not heavy. "the extra-solid construction and electronic docks mean the bikes, made in Hungary, are expensive".
Posted by: Washcycle | November 02, 2009 at 05:03 PM
Comparing bike sharing in Paris to bike sharing in Montreal and DC is apples and oranges. Paris is a bigger city (by population), with a much more ambitious program. Imagine 20,000 bikes shared bikes on Manhattan. That's what they're dealing with.
Posted by: guez | November 02, 2009 at 06:01 PM
Montreal's program is pretty ambitious, given the size of the city. When I visited it seemed there were stations every few blocks in the downtown and Plateau.
Montreal is a MUCH more egalitarian city than Paris. There aren't the big, sprawling underprivileged suburbs, and the quaint, expensive core. Historic Montreal is actually a pretty affordable place to live (as nice North American cities go). So there's no impulse to vandalize the bikes to vent anger/class resentment.
Posted by: Erica | November 02, 2009 at 08:00 PM
guez, as I've said to so many women over the years, I really don't see how size matters. Are you hypothesizing that the rate of vandalism goes up as a system gets larger? How does size explain an 80% theft/damage rate in Paris and a 2% theft/damage rate in DC? [I guess as size goes up, one can make a living stealing the bikes. In DC you'd run out of opportunities pretty quickly]
Posted by: Washcycle | November 02, 2009 at 09:27 PM
Good call on the inflated price of the bikes.
THey are nice bikes -- much much better than the ones in Lyon, Barcelona and DC. But not $3500.....
Posted by: charlie | November 02, 2009 at 10:50 PM
I understand the bike sharing scheme in Rome is more worried about the Visigoths.
Posted by: MB | November 03, 2009 at 12:03 AM
Everyone is ready for the Visigoths, but the Ostrogoths...they have the element of surprise on their side.
Posted by: Washcycle | November 03, 2009 at 12:20 AM
As systems grow larger they inevitably go into 'worse' neighborhoods. A majority of vandalism/theft in DC has occurred at the Shaw & Rhode Island Ave stations from what I've heard, but the other 8 stations are in nicer neighborhoods or business districts. All of the DC stations are in the Northwest quadrant, and my guess is if they were to be distributed citywide we would see theft and vandalism rates similar to Paris.
Posted by: ontarioroader | November 03, 2009 at 01:30 AM
yeah, DC and Montreal don't have a problem with mass car-burnings either. On the other hand we do have a much higher murder rate....
Paris has a very high unemployment rate disproportionately shared by poor minorities who live on the outside of the city - this has made mobility a major issue of protest for the poor. Paris also has a culture of protests that involves property destruction.
In North America it's usually the other way around - with the poor living in the more urban areas, so it's a different dynamic.
Posted by: Lee Watkins IV | November 03, 2009 at 07:30 AM
WC,
Sorry, you're right. Never mind. "It's just the French" is a much better answer.
Posted by: guez | November 04, 2009 at 06:40 AM
Paul DeMaio agrees, though ontarioroader makes a compelling argument.
Posted by: Washcycle | November 04, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Correction to the original article:
The bikes only cost $1000 each - the $3500 includes the start-up costs, ie digging up the roads, the docking stations etc
Looking forward to our scheme in London next year
Posted by: fluffy_mike | November 07, 2009 at 12:45 AM