Streetsblog New York City

If you've read this BBC story currently making the rounds, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Vélib, Paris's wildly popular bike-share system, has suddenly been afflicted by an epidemic of theft and vandalism that threatens its very existence. Vélib bikes have been "torched," strung up from lamp-posts, and smuggled across borders, the Beeb reports in alarmist tones. A spokesman for JCDecaux, the outdoor advertising firm that operates Vélib, calls its contract with the city of Paris "unsustainable," and the whole system is referred to in the past tense.

So is Vélib destined to burn brightly only to flare out after a short time? Hardly. Vélib is here to stay, according to officials and transportation experts familiar with the details of its operations. The BBC's portrayal of a mortal threat, they say, is best understood as a negotiating ploy on the part of JCDecaux. (Note that the JCDecaux representative is the only source quoted in that story.)

"Decaux is using media sensationalism in order to obtain more money from the city of Paris," said Denis Baupin, who as Deputy Mayor for Transportation oversaw the Vélib launch in the summer of 2007.

The basic structure of the Vélib contract works like this. JCDecaux runs the whole system in exchange for the rights to 1,600 outdoor displays, turning its profit from selling that ad space. The city of Paris keeps the revenue from Vélib user fees, so it can claim to provide the service at no taxpayer expense. Now, with the full Paris network of 20,600 bicycles and 1,451 stations completed, penalties for inadequate maintenance are in the process of taking effect. Hence the hue and cry from JCDecaux.

"It's in large part a PR issue," says Luc Nadal of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Some aspects of the Vélib contract are still in flux, and the sky-is-falling press coverage gives JCDecaux a stronger hand in those negotiations. "Their bargaining position depends on the public's perception."

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We interrupt our post-election coverage to remind everyone of tonight's Vélib film screening. Seats are still available. Here are the deets:

Please join Janette Sadik-Khan, Transportation Commissioner of New York City, for the world premiere of "Paris: Vélo Liberté" from the critically acclaimed PBS series e²: the economies of being environmentally conscious.

The screening will be immediately followed by a discussion of metropolitan bike sharing programs with:

Denis Baupin, Deputy Mayor, Paris
André Lavallée, Mayor, Arrondissement de Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Montréal
Janette Sadik-Khan, Transportation Commissioner, New York City

The program begins at at 6:30 this evening on the 40th floor of 7 World Trade Center / 250 Greenwich Street (between Barclay and Vesey). Please RSVP to pyee @ dot . nyc . gov.

If you can't make tonight's showing, "Paris: Vélo Liberté" will debut Thursday night on Channel 13.

As if there's not enough reason to be jittery with anticipation for next week's events, mark this on your calendars:

Please join Janette Sadik-Khan, Transportation Commissioner of New York City, for the world premiere of Paris: Vélo Liberté from the critically acclaimed PBS series e²: the economies of being environmentally conscious.

The screening will be immediately followed by a discussion of metropolitan bike sharing programs with:

Denis Baupin, Deputy Mayor, Paris
André Lavallée, Mayor, Arrondissement de Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Montréal
Janette Sadik-Khan, Transportation Commissioner, New York City

Paris became one of the world's best bicycling cities practically overnight with the debut of Vélib last year. The system now boasts 20,000 bikes, 1400 stations, and 200,000 subscribers. Montreal is on track to have North America's biggest bike-share system by next April (unless Washington D.C. quickly ramps up its network). And NYCDOT announced this summer that it will explore the feasibility of bringing bike-share to New York.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday on the 40th floor of 250 Greenwich Street (between Barclay and Vesey). RSVP to pyee @ dot . nyc . gov. Full details after the jump.

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Public bike-share in the U.S. hit a milestone yesterday when SmartBike DC, the first program of its kind in an American city, launched in full. Coverage in the Washington Post was heavy on the implications for D.C.'s image:

Today the city will join the ranks of Paris and Barcelona with the launch of the first high-tech public bike-sharing program in the United States, forcing such cities as San Francisco and Chicago to look here to see chic alternative transportation in action in America.

One critical difference between SmartBike and its European counterparts is the size of the network. When Vélib debuted in Paris, it provided 10,000 bikes at 750 locations. The SmartBike planners are taking a gradualist approach, starting off with 120 bikes stationed at 10 sites concentrated near downtown D.C. So far, 150 memberships have been sold, the Post reports.

The fact that D.C. has cleared the hurdles of getting a system up and running is piquing the interest of other cities, according to the outdoor advertising firm that sponsors SmartBike:

"We're getting inquiries from all around the country to see if they can take the same program and implement it in their city," said Steve Ginsburg of Clear Channel Outdoor.

Which American city will go live with public bike-share next? New York recently signaled its interest in a bike-share program, and Portland is actively pursuing one, despite some setbacks. The highly informative Bike-Sharing Blog has put together a Google Maps mashup showing where programs exist, and where ones are in various stages of study and planning. By my count, 14 cities are in the running to follow D.C.

Photo of a SmartBike DC station: afagen/Flickr

Here's another transportation policy success story from France. The Vélib bike-sharing system celebrates its one-year anniversary today. In April, Streetfilms' Elizabeth Press was in Paris to learn more about it. Here is her video and report:

On July 15, 2007 Paris debuted the world's largest self-service "bicycle transit system" called Vélib outdoing previously designed bike share programs. Vélib is a balance of scale and functionality, clocking in with more than 20,000 bikes, and 1,451 docking stations, which are never more than 1,000 feet apart. As a result, Vélib is effectively a new form of public transportation that has generated more than 25 million new bicycle trips in its first year, 10% of which substitute former car trips.

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The fence at Washington Square Park: a sign of latent demand for bike-share?

New York University may be the enemy of many East and West Villagers over its plans to expand, but its students are finding other ways to cut the school's environmental impacts: A group of undergrads and grads are gearing up for a bike-share program in the fall.

Their plan, which is still being tweaked, aims for a fleet of 30 bikes available at two dorms. One residence, at 40 East 7th Street, was selected because it's slated to become a "green house" with composting and other environmentally friendly features, explained junior Lindsi Seegmiller. They selected the other dorm, on Broome Street near Lafayette, because it has a floor devoted to green living, known as the "eco-Broome."

The team of six undergrads and grad students expects to be awarded $13,000 from Green Grants, a two-year-old program run by NYU's sustainability task force. Their project is one of several Green Grant winners the school plans to announce this week.

The grant will cover a swipe card system that two graduate students from Tisch's Interactive Telecommunications Program are developing. Also provided for: a maintenance program and the actual bikes, which will be rehabbed from abandoned bikes found on campus. The fix-up effort will be coordinated in tandem with a bike maintenance program started last year by NYU student Emily Allen.

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The latest figures from the Paris Vélib bike sharing program are in. User stats and survey results are posted on the official web site, but for those who don't parlez Français, here's a summary:

• Rides to date: 20 million
  
• Average trips/day: 70,000
  
• Average trip time: 18 minutes
  
• 190,000 annual pass holders
  
• 42% of users are females
  
• 1/3 of users come from outside the central city
  
• 17% of users are more than 46 years old
  
• 94% of users like it (of which 20% like it a lot)
  
• 46% are satisfied with stations (available bikes, parking slots)

Vélib-style bike rentals come to the U.S. this month in Washington, D.C.

After the jump, for you French speakers, Parisians talk about the program -- one of many ways the city is beating traffic. 

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Biking by the Seine during car-free hours on the Georges Pompidou Expressway.

The mayor of a global metropolis, elected to his first term in 2001, set out to reduce driving and promote greener modes of transportation in his city. Congestion pricing turned out to be unfeasible, because influential political forces in the suburbs believed, rightly or wrongly, that charging people to drive into the urban core was regressive. Undaunted, the mayor found other means to achieve his transportation agenda.

The mayor is Bertrand Delanoë, and the city is Paris, where private auto use has dropped 20 percent in a few short years.

As Mayor Bloomberg and the team at DOT chart a way forward without London-style congestion charging, it's worth noting that for all the differences between New York and Paris, Delanoë also confronted a vocal car culture while winning huge victories for pedestrians, bikes, and transit. To get a better sense of how New York can apply the lessons of Paris, Streetsblog spoke to Luc Nadal and Aimée Gauthier of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy about the hurdles faced by Delanoë and his deputy mayor for transportation, Denis Baupin.

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On Wednesday Streetsblog declared Portland the leader in the race to launch a public bike-share program here in America. But as reader Chris Loos pointed out, a bike-share system in Washington is actually imminent.

"DC SmartBike" will launch as a pilot program in the coming weeks with 120 bikes at 10 stations, available for an annual subscription of about $40. It's not exactly Vélib, but it's a start. During an address at the Bike Summit earlier this week, Emeka Moneme, head of DC’s DOT, said that his department is also looking at developing a region-wide bike-share network in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. For more coverage of the city's bike-share plans, check out the excellent DC bike blog WashCycle. 

Bike-sharing in Lyon, France

Bike-share programs are a very hot topic at the Bike Summit. Everyone is aware of how Velib has led to a huge spike in bike ridership in Paris, and they're wondering which U.S. city will be the first to replicate that success. Based on the Q&A session at one panel, "Bicycling in Great American Cities," it seems like Portland is the best bet to get something up and running first.

An audience member asked representatives of DOTs in Boston, Portland, and New York if they're looking into bike-share programs. Boston's Nicole Freedman, who has basically been building a bike program from scratch, answered first: "Absolutely. Everything I've researched says that bike-share is transformative." The two stumbling blocks are liability, which Freedman said can be overcome, and funding. No system has been profitable yet, she noted, so Boston is looking at models that could be profitable.

Roger Geller, Portland's bicycle coordinator, said his city is looking to launch a vendor-operated bike-share system and has put out a request for proposals.

Dani Simons of NYCDOT said bike-share might be on the table once the infrastructure for a safer bike system is in place. Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives, who moderated the panel, said he'd like to see a pilot program in the East Village, but that Governors Island was the most likely place to get something set up first. "Nothing has grown cycling as fast as bike-share," he said. "We need to get one off the ground here."

Photo: quosquos/Flickr