Hacker News Reader

Comment by bjelkeman-again | Hacker News Reader

  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.

  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.

It would be interesting to see what the comparable numbers are in Stockholm, where they have a similar effort running, but I haven't seen a single vandalised bike.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/2436951384/in/set-721...

View on HN

In Barcelona (Spain) there is a similar service, called "Bicing"( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicing), which I use for going to work and moving through the city (30 euro/year). It allows me to save above 400 euro/year on metro/underground/bus tickets, while enjoying the trips.

About vandalism and bike maintenance: also there is vandalism, you can see stolen bikes parked in the middle of nowhere, some homeless using it for moving their things, etc. However, its impact, in my opinion, it's much lower that the shown in Paris. Most people in Barcelona, except some car drivers, LOVE the services, and treat the bikes with respect. Obviously, by its use, the bikes have to be repaired (tires, brakes, gears, seat clip, etc.), but the abuse is quite low.

The punishment for losing a bike is 200 euro, so I asume that it is what a bike costs.

As curiosity, there is a photo of the Bicing service into Joel's "The Duct Tape Programmer" blog entry (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/09/23.html)

This article seems oddly focused on France. I also know of similar efforts in Germany. And I have seen similar bikes in Spain.

It would be much more interesting to get a European perspective.

Switzerland also has a bike rental program in several cities (http://www.suisseroule.ch), and students can borrow them for free (insured against their university account). During the summer, I saw people riding those bikes around all the time, but I have no idea how popular the program is. You can also rent bikes at all the major train stations.

Not in Europe, but in Montreal (Canada), we've got Bixi bikes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIXI) and it has similar issues with damage and theft. In addition to the issues mentioned in the wiki page, there were also problems with double billing... but it still seems to be doing well regardless.

I was there recently and it didn't sound anywhere near as bad as the article. And I could see people riding the bikes everywhere

I was in Paris for a week in Spring, and rode velibs everywhere every day.

No problems at all. Occasionally you found a knackered one, but it looked like wear and tear rather than vandalism. It's a superb idea.

Not just European: Montreal, Canada has this too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi

Interestingly enough, vandalism seems to be much lower, though still significant: "...one in five bikes have been damaged and 15% of bike racks are defective..."

While many bikes are still defective, they have fixed the problem with the racks that allowed people to steal bikes (and break the rack at the same time).

http://www.bikemi.com

In Milan (Italy) works very well

Brussels too : http://en.villo.be/

I saw no vandalism and no problems at all when I used the service in Paris last month.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com