Velib' Freeride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afE44cHNkEg

Cunts fucking it up for everyone else.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7881079.stm

"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."

Halfway down the article that MA3K posted.

Well . . . what did they expect? Great idea, but this was always going to happen

i expected better of the french, bunch of vandals... the finnish seem to do ok... don't think the kids doing tricks on them would be trashing them though, those bikes are mad heavy bombproof...

same thing happened in cambridge when they did a similar scheme, most of the bikes ended up in the canal and are still being dredged up to this day.

what about in Barcelona where you have to be a resident/leave credit card info in order to hire the bikes? how are they doing with vandalism?

i expected better of the french, bunch of vandals...

yeah, everyone knows that we are masters in the art of torching cars and vandalising bikes ... seriously, this makes me remember I had once my bmx thrashed by some local boys in a little city in north france. Anyway, it takes more than a bunch of arse wipes to destroy a good ol' Tange frame, proof is that I still have the bike today ( I bought it in ... 1980) ;)

Cunts fucking it up for everyone else.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7881079.stm

Actually, I personally think that's the greatest possible outcome.

Give people a taste for cycling and then encourage them to go buy their own bikes.

I'm actually quite worried about what was described to me about both the Barcelona and Paris schemes... the value of bikes being sold in the average shop is driven down to match the low value of a velib subscription, and the result is that the bike shops go out of business.

I like the idea of giving a populace a taste for it, building in the necessary infrastructure for a good cycle network. And then convert the riders to a private ownership model by reducing the capacity of the cheap hire model.

an article was in the times the other day, i was in paris last october i didnt even notice them!

JC Decaux have a commercial interest in putting pressure on the Mairie de Paris to re-negotiate the contract.

Basically, their profit expectations from the oodles of advertising space around Paris that they received in exchange for operating the scheme don't seem to have materialised. Tough. If they wanted to make a public case for changing the contract, you would want them to disclose precisely what they were making from it, wouldn't you?

(Generally, in the press, expect a greater likelihood that a story about cycling will be spun negatively, as the media is still to a very large degree dependent on funding from car advertising.)

To correct the skewed perception that is currently being generated by these misleading articles, we hear instead that 70% of the 'missing' bikes are actually recovered. The City of Paris has also collected 20 million euros in revenue from the
scheme.

So, just be careful when taking such stories at face value. The fact is that Vélib’ is still a roaring success.

How a similar scheme will fare in London is anyone's guess, but if you're interested in hearing from Gary McGowan, the project manager, you can get down to Southwark Cyclists' monthly meeting tonight:

http://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/meetus.shtml

I've used the Velib' in Lyon first then in Paris and I loved the experience. The bikes are well-designed for what they're for, and it made my stay in both cities more enjoyable. However, I dread to think about a similar scheme in London. Not for its success potential, but for the safety issues involved. There are people on this forum that have access to figures that I just haven't seen, but I do believe in all honesty that it would not be a safe option for your average commuter in London. It's all about attitude and mentality towards cylists. I know Velib' daily users who hadn't touched a bicycle for years. The similar type of people over here would never even consider riding in central London, and who would blame them? Is it just a question of training these people, and building their confidence? Aren't they entitled to a safe riding environment first and foremost?

Lolo, I can't give you full figures right now, but essentially, more cyclists equals more safety. Collision rates in Paris went down considerably. Yes, some 'new' people will crash, but overall, compared to the number of additional trips made, the risk will go down. It will transform the city's appearance quite considerably. It's cycling as a form of urban public transport.

i don't see why London would be that much more dangerous than Paris... have only spent a couple of days cycling in Paris but didn't feel much different to London. Maybe there's a bit more space for bikes, but the traffic moves faster and is just as chaotic.

i reckon a bike rental scheme would be really handy in central London.

It will succeed. It's all part of a more enlightened urbanism that is taking greater hold. It won't fully develop in our lifetimes, but we'll see it bear some fruit.

Don't get me wrong, guys, I'm all for a successful cycling scheme in London. I just felt it was easier/safer to ride in Paris than London. I'm talking first impressions and gut feeling here, I'm not pretending it's facts and science.
Safety in numbers is something that comes back often in such debates. If one can bring a safe environment for cyclists of all abilities then I'm all for it. If you are involved in the project, Oliver, you have all my support (for what it's worth ;-) and I wish you to success.

I see loads trashed around Paris, flat tyres, tyres hangin off, baskets trashed, mudguards hanging off - getting to be an eyesore tbh
Would only see it going the same way in London after time. As New Order once sang 'State Of The Nation'

I can't imagine the average Londoner picking up a hire bike and taking in for a stroll down Oxford Street or any other equally busy road. Paris has much wider roads and more of a cycling culture so its easy to encourage people on to rent bikes. If traffic in central London was calmed and roads made more cycling friendly then maybe. As for the whole vandalism thing I don't understand how they could loose half the fleet, aren't people properly registered to these things. If you take out a bike and its not returned wouldn't you have to pay for it????

I can't imagine the average Londoner picking up a hire bike and taking in for a stroll down Oxford Street or any other equally busy road. Paris has much wider roads and more of a cycling culture so its easy to encourage people on to rent bikes. If traffic in central London was calmed and roads made more cycling friendly then maybe. As for the whole vandalism thing I don't understand how they could loose half the fleet, aren't people properly registered to these things. If you take out a bike and its not returned wouldn't you have to pay for it????

They haven't lost 'half the fleet'--most of them are recovered.

Wider roads are not actually an incentive to cycle per se. Also, cycling in Paris has developed in leaps and bounds over the last few years--from a low base as in London. Vélib’ has of course been a big reason, but also other forward-thinking traffic management initiatives that have clawed back some of central Paris from being constantly spoiled by mass car traffic.

One of the things that makes London cycle-friendly is actually precisely that its network is relatively untouched by motor excesses. It is built up in many places to accommodate much more motor traffic than it can take, but at heart it remains a very cycleable network. Hopefully, the hire scheme will increase the political will for complementary measures.

They haven't lost 'half the fleet'--most of them are recovered.

Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.
There might be a cycling network untouched by traffic but this is not going to be very useful for getting from A to B. People are going to need to feel that it is safe to cycle around their area or down to the shops, things area improving but aren't at that level yet.

There is already a cycle hire thing in London, there's some yellow bikes parked across some of west London (some outside Hammersmith station) called swan cycles or something. Iv not seen people use them, maybe they do, who knows.

Lookatthisguy, the information that half the fleet has been lost is basically false. This is the number of bikes that went missing for a while, but 70% were recovered. Calculating from this, the actual loss rate would seem to run at about 1/6th of the fleet. Still far too many, of course, but not as dramatic as reported.

There might be a cycling network untouched by traffic but this is not going to be very useful for getting from A to B. People are going to need to feel that it is safe to cycle around their area or down to the shops, things area improving but aren't at that level yet.

Absolutely. The relevant project that we hope the Mayor will tackle at some point soon is 'bike hubs' around local town centres. This hasn't advanced as far yet as bike hire or cycle corridors but subject to funding is due to begin at some point. There are still other projects ongoing. The main problem with promoting local trips by bike is actually that suburban commercial infrastructure is so poorly developed and people will want to go into Central London for most specialist goods and services. It's a planning issue at heart. Worries about safety always hide worries about something else that is more fundamental--e.g., there are low-traffic routes available for pretty much every trip you care to make, but choice of these routes is often restricted owing to poor permeability, etc. (On permeability, see http://www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk/permproj.htm and http://www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk/permeability.htm.)

There is already a cycle hire thing in London, there's some yellow bikes parked across some of west London (some outside Hammersmith station) called swan cycles or something. Iv not seen people use them, maybe they do, who knows.
OYBikes. A very worthy project, with nice people running it. As it has never been supported enough to acquire strength in numbers, it is still very small.