Thousands of new Vélib' bikes, larger stations, and pop-up drop-off points for the Olympic Games. The supply of bicycles in Paris should improve this winter, according to Sylvain Raifaud (EELV). This Monday, at the microphone of France Bleu Paris, the president of the Autolib' and Vélib' Métropole union detailed this development plan.
In October, the latter announced that there was a shortage of 2000 bicycles to meet the demand in Paris. This winter, 3000 additional Vélib' bikes are planned to be put into service, i.e. 20% more bikes. The total fleet is then expected to exceed 21,000 bicycles.
Pop-up stations will also be set up near Olympic venues this summer. "We are going to set up ephemeral stations near the Olympic sites: seven in Paris and three in Île-de-France," said Sylvain Raifaud. That's what was done for the Rugby World Cup. And there will be agents who can do small repairs on site. This is the guarantee that, if you go on a Vélib' to an Olympic event, you will have a place to put it back. »
Among these sites, the new Arena located at Porte de La Chapelle (XVIIIth), the Yves-du-Manoir de Colombes stadium (92), the La Défense Arena (92) and the Stade de France (93).
🚲 3,000 additional Vélib' bikes are arriving this winter, i.e. 20% more
🗣️ bikes Too full, "fifteen Vélib' stations will be expanded by spring in the centre of Paris," says @sylvainraifaud, president of the Autolib' and Vélib Métropole trade union pic.twitter.com/WR9xVZ8IGs
— France Bleu Paris (@francebleuparis) January 15, 2024
As for the deployment of 3000 additional bicycles in the capital this winter, it will be accompanied by the expansion of many stations throughout the capital. "We're going to expand about a hundred stations within Paris in the most sought-after areas to have more spaces," continues Sylvain Raifaud. We're going to start until spring with 15 stations in the central districts of Paris to have more capacity to drop off bikes in areas that are extremely busy. »
It is to be hoped that the maintenance teams will be able to repair and maintain this larger fleet. Since the arrival of Smovengo in 2018, subscribers and elected administrators of the SAVM have been complaining about the state of the bikes, which are often unusable. A situation that Smovengo explains in particular by the overuse of the service, which has around 400,000 subscribers, for less than 19,000 bikes deployed today.