420,000 subscribers, 215,000 trips every day ... The Vélib 'service, which collapsed 3 years ago when it was taken over by the operator Smovengo in 2018, seems to have regained momentum and has posted records of use since some months. The health crisis and the rediscovery of the benefits of cycling during deconfinement are not unrelated to this. Many residents of the Paris region have adopted the green or blue bicycle (if you take an electric model) since spring 2020 to avoid public transport and get around without having to fear the crowded trains of the metro. Since the first deconfinement, Vélib 'has indeed been setting up rental records.
But this change in gear has been accompanied by an “overuse” of electric bikes which now perform 60% of the races, whereas they represent for the moment “only” 35% of the fleet.
More borrowed (up to 12 times a day) than mechanical bikes, the blue Vélib 'run further and longer, with an average journey of 16 minutes and 3.4 km compared to 14 minutes and 2.9 km for the version without electric assistance.
Their wear is also due to their overuse by delivery men Deliveroo and Ubert Eats who are not equipped with two-wheelers by the platforms that employ them.
And ultimately, maintenance costs skyrocket.
Every day no less than 600 to 800 defective bikes are sent to the repair shop.
However, after granting an extension of 12 million euros to the operator Smovengo, the elected officials of the Autolib 'Vélib' Métropole Syndicate that you chair also voted to change the price list which will apply from this summer. Aim of the maneuver: to increase the prices of journeys made by electric Vélib '. Thus for the V-max package, the favorite of regular users of the electric Vélib ', the first sequence of use (increased to 45 minutes) will remain free… but only for two daily trips. From the third, you will have to pay 1 euro per new rental.
However, daily Vélib 'enthusiasts know it and deplore it: the service is far from efficient. It takes a lot more than two electric bicycles to make two trips per day. The stations sometimes only make electrically assisted Vélib 'available to the user who is looking for a mechanic. Bikes break down in the middle of a race, not to mention the search for a working electric Vélib 'that regularly turns into a hassle. Sometimes you have to try up to five before you find one that works!
Why increase the price of electric Vélib 'when it is so difficult to get one that works?
While everywhere people praise the merits of “soft” modes of transport to limit pollution from motorists, is it time to ask Vélib 'lovers to put their hand in the wallet?
The readers of Parisien-Today in France are impatiently awaiting your response.
Sylvain Raifaud: "It is intensive use, which sometimes borders on privatization, that we would like to see reduced"
Sylvain Raifaud, president of the Autolib 'Vélib' Métropole union.
City of Paris
Sylvain Raifaud begins his letter with good news: the share of electric Vélib 'vehicles will increase to 40% of the total number of bicycles. Unfortunately, the prices will also increase, he confirms, even if the price has been set to penalize as few users as possible: “Today, 83% of subscribers rent less than 2 electric bikes per day, he writes. This is what guided us to set the threshold for free daily trips for V-Max subscribers and which makes it transparent for the vast majority of them. "
Without writing it in black and white, the elected official recognizes that this increase mainly targets delivery people who use electric Vélib 'for professional reasons: “It is intensive use, which sometimes borders on de facto privatization, that we want to see reduced, because Vélib 'is not designed for, he insists. These behaviors accelerate the wear and tear of bikes which do not have time to recharge in the station and are therefore not available to everyone. "And to describe the virtuous circle that could result from less use by delivery people:" The availability of electric Vélib 'should therefore increase mechanically, heavy users also having the possibility of using the mechanical bicycle for their short journeys. . "
And if it is difficult today to find one that works, it is to the operator Smovengo that one must address himself, he writes: “It is his responsibility […] to ensure the improving the availability of bicycles and constantly monitoring the overall quality of the service provided. "
While waiting for the thinning, Sylvain Raifaud specifies: "The races which are less than 3 minutes are not counted, which allows the user, if he encounters a bicycle with an anomaly, to put it back in the station without having his race is taken into account. Smovengo's maintenance and regulation operations must allow this period of 3 minutes after taking a bike to cover on its own the vast majority of anomaly findings. "And therefore, that the adept of Vélib 'bleu, who is now only entitled to two journeys per day in his subscription, is not out of his pocket.