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JCDecaux’s Cyclocity

(SELF SERVICE SCHEMES)
Paris’ Vélib’ is currently the largest bicycle rental project in the world and has consequently been the attention of a vast amount of media, public and official interest. It is a citywide bike rental service with a total of nearly 20,600 bicycles available at 1,451 stations. It has been hailed by many as a great success. However, the genesis of the Paris system is recent. It is created around JCDecaux’s Cyclocity system, which has already been introduced on varying smaller scales in around 13 other cities, since 2002, starting in Vienna and which is the main competitor to Clear Channel’s SmartBike based systems.

This case study will focus mostly on the Paris scheme in France and also by way recent of comparison, the Seville version Sevici in Spain, which is another 2007 addition to the list of Cyclocity derived systems, installed on a smaller scale (10% the size of Paris). Both systems are accessible to visitors and residents to hire bikes on short- or long-term subscriptions and both are designed to encourage short city trips, with the first half hour free and escalating charging structures thereafter.

Facility
JCDecaux (‘Cyclocity’) based self service bicycle hire systems, designed for short city journeys: the Vélib’ scheme in Paris and Sevici scheme in Seville.

Provider
JCDecaux Development Services, Cyclocity’s bikes division.
Vélib’ was commissioned by ‘Mairie de Paris’ City Council of Paris

Sevici was commissioned by the Seville City Council ‘Ayuntamiento
de Sevilla’.

Designer / Architect
JC Decaux design department

Cost of Provision
Costs to the Paris authorities for supply implementation and ongoing management of the Vélib’ system are understood to be around €90 million, linked to a ten year outdoor advertising contract.

The bicycles used with the Vélib’ system are reported to cost just under €1,000 each and the cost of the whole system, spread across its 20,000 bikes, equates to €4,500 per bike.

Strengths
• Short-term and long-term rental options available with accessibly priced subscription rates
• Big-wheeled bikes better for Paris and Seville which still have numerous cobbled streets
• Sufficient numbers of bikes installed in each case to serve a substantial portion of the travelling masses in those city centres
• Advanced and reliable system software and service back-up.
• Sevici bike rental pricing offers more flexible use being among the least expensive for 3rd-generation schemes
• Vélib’ annual user rental process made very easy by the on-post swipe card facility
• Sevici supported by bike-friendly street and city infrastructure
• Vélib’ is backed up by strong publicity, a users’ blog and various forums as well as the official website

Weaknesses
• Very heavy bikes and not attractive to all. Vélib’-grey is said by some to make the parking stations less noticeable
• The Paris road infrastructure is still not up to supporting so many new cyclists
• Logistical problems with not enough bikes being available in the popular places at the popular times
• Bikes tend to be very quickly rented from the tops of hills and they tend to accumulate at the base of the hills
• Continued issues with thefts and vandalism mean fewer bikes are available than have theoretically been put into circulation and may increase the provider’s costing structure for future cities

Useful References
www.velibparis.fr
www.sevici.es
en.sevici.es