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French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

nytimes.com

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Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#41

Post by garnet7 »

jusob wrote: post #9
snewe wrote: post #5

Why didn't they just subsidize bike and bike lock purchases for individuals?

What is great with this program is that you take the bike only when you need it. You don't have to carry it with you all the time. You can combine subway, bus and bike. There are a lot of stations around Paris. You can use the bike one way only if it is raining for example, and use the bus/subway to go back.

> You can combine subway, bus and bike.

You can do the same thing (though not quite as convenient) with a folding bike.

They could put a plan in place to offer incentives for people to buy some standard folding bicycle. Folders are expensive because there aren't too many produced and because they need to be fairly light, however, mass-produced they shouldn't be too expensive.

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#42

Post by abalashov »

wheels wrote: post #40
abalashov wrote: post #28

I remember from the summer I spent in Innsbruck, Austria (my dad was teaching on a summer abroad program for American students) in 2003 that there were hundreds of bikes standing on orderly bike racks or improvisationally leaning against various structures on nearly every nontrivial street. The biggest surprise to someone just coming from America is that very few of them were locked, and it did not seem to be a major…

Uhm, yeah, that's certainly not universal in Europe. I had 4 bikes (including having the locks cut) stolen in 2 years in Berlin before I just gave up. A lot of people here get cheap old bikes just because they're the least likely to get stolen (though I had two of those stolen too).

I was figuring that it such orderliness, cleanliness and safety might be a characteristic of small Germanic cities - a category into which Berlin would not fit.

Perhaps I am wrong about that.

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#43

Post by justlearning »

wheels wrote: post #40
abalashov wrote: post #28

I remember from the summer I spent in Innsbruck, Austria (my dad was teaching on a summer abroad program for American students) in 2003 that there were hundreds of bikes standing on orderly bike racks or improvisationally leaning against various structures on nearly every nontrivial street. The biggest surprise to someone just coming from America is that very few of them were locked, and it did not seem to be a major…

Uhm, yeah, that's certainly not universal in Europe. I had 4 bikes (including having the locks cut) stolen in 2 years in Berlin before I just gave up. A lot of people here get cheap old bikes just because they're the least likely to get stolen (though I had two of those stolen too).

stealing - reminds me of this video showing indifference in NYC (even with cops in sight).(substitute NYC with any major city)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbklkFuFk-4

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#44

Post by vicehead »

abalashov wrote: post #28

I remember from the summer I spent in Innsbruck, Austria (my dad was teaching on a summer abroad program for American students) in 2003 that there were hundreds of bikes standing on orderly bike racks or improvisationally leaning against various structures on nearly every nontrivial street. The biggest surprise to someone just coming from America is that very few of them were locked, and it did not seem to be a major…

The same is true for India and China. Maybe because there are too many bikes here for anybody to really want to steal them.

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#45

Post by [deleted] »

gaius wrote: post #12
rokhayakebe wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over-engineering. They could have done the same with bikes that cost significantly less.

It's kinda like how London buses are made by Mercedes. You might think that's an extravagance - but if things are to be used hard every day, it's a false economy to cut corners up front (unless you go so cheap they're effectively disposable).

[deleted]

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#46

Post by johnaspden »

JeffJenkins wrote: post #23
memetichazard wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#47

Post by leif »

wheels wrote: post #40
abalashov wrote: post #28

I remember from the summer I spent in Innsbruck, Austria (my dad was teaching on a summer abroad program for American students) in 2003 that there were hundreds of bikes standing on orderly bike racks or improvisationally leaning against various structures on nearly every nontrivial street. The biggest surprise to someone just coming from America is that very few of them were locked, and it did not seem to be a major…

Uhm, yeah, that's certainly not universal in Europe. I had 4 bikes (including having the locks cut) stolen in 2 years in Berlin before I just gave up. A lot of people here get cheap old bikes just because they're the least likely to get stolen (though I had two of those stolen too).

Bikes get stolen pretty quickly here too, even with the vélib bikes readily available (and only about 20 euros for a year pass), if you leave them in the wrong places. A friend of mine's had two stolen in a month because he left them outside at night.

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#48

Post by hyperbovine »

aohtsab wrote: post #34

There's been a push in my area to introduce a similar concept, but with cars. It's based off of the San Francisco model: http://www.citycarshare.org Anyone from the Bay area have any feedback?

I love it. Having a car in the bay area is a total pain in the ass. CCS seems to be an unbridled success. The cars are always new and clean. I have never heard of one getting broken into or stolen--I'm sure they all have lojack. Really the total opposite of what this article is describing.

Re: French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

#49

Post by wingo »

http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/02/12/reports-of-velibs-demi...

I would be surprised if JCDecaux's PR department were not at least partially behind this.

(I go to Paris frequently. The bikes mostly work fine, and everyone loves them. Here in Barcelona the system works pretty well, too.)

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