This week saw the first anniversary of Vélib, the Parisian municipal bike rental system. The bikes – now numbering over 20,000 – were the result of a deal with advertising giants JC Decaux, similar to arrangements already struck in cities such as Lyon and Vienna. The system was simple – you put up a €150 deposit, either by cheque or credit card, paid by the day (€1), by the week (€5), or by the year (€29), and henceforth have the pleasure of being readily able to pick up a bike in any corner of the city. After paying your fee, the first half an hour of each journey is free, with charges applied thereafter.
Arriving in Paris for a month last August, sampling Vélib was one of the first things I did. I hadn’t been anywhere near a bike in over a decade, but that first cycle – the collision with a pavement excepted – had me hooked (to the point where getting my own bike became a priority upon my return to Ireland). In the space of a few days Vélib became my main mode of transport around the city. I looked forward to each journey, with the morning trip helping to get my brain alert and the evening ride home clearing away any work-induced cobwebs.
From the saddle of the many Vélibs I used over the month I began to experience a city I thought I knew well in a completely new way. I became familiar with the subtle inclines of the streets, the intricate workings of Parisian traffic, the most convenient routes from x to y. On Sundays, when the roads running alongside the Seine are closed, I could take to the empty bus lanes and wend my way down to the river, and join hordes of other newly bike-loving Parisians on leisurely spins. Best of all, a spin down the rue de Rivoli offered ample opportunity to pretend (within the confines of one’s own mind, of course) that you were in the final stage of the Tour de France.
Within days of Vélib’s debut, on 15 July, it was being reported that a similar deal had been struck for Dublin. It’s a year on, and while some of the hoardings included in the deal have been put up none of the distinctive bicycles have, as yet, made their way onto Dublin’s streets. I hope that they do so sooner rather than later – and that they put in more than a few hundred bikes. While using the system in Paris I often found myself thinking about how the scheme could work here, and the simple truth is that if it was well-maintained, there’s no doubt that a Vélib style scheme (or Rothar, as they might decide to call it) could work just as well in Dublin as it has in Paris.
There’s no doubt that, despite my rose-tinted experience of it, Vélib, and schemes like it, has its problems. Vandalism occurs regularly, though the fact that the bikes are so distinctive, and electronically tagged, means that there is less theft than one might expect. However, should the bikes appear in Dublin, such problems could be kept to a minimum if the City Council were willing to implement regular checks of bikes and stations by maintenance crews (as in Paris), as well as surveillance systems at stations.
The truth is that the positives of introducing a similar scheme to Dublin far outweigh the negatives, in the first instance by helping the transport situation in the city. Such bikes could, as in Paris, become an integrated part of the transport network in the city, encouraging people to leave the car at home and take the bus or train in and then finish the remainder of their journey by bike, without worrying about it getting stolen or lugging it home with them. It’s clear, though, that the greatest benefit of these schemes lies in just encouraging people to start cycling, be it for the first time – or for the first time in ages. If they don’t enjoy it, then that’s okay. They can leave the bike back. However, it’s probably quite hard to find someone who – with some practice, some knowledge of the rules of the road, and a helmet, of course – doesn’t derive great joy from zipping past traffic, having their journey times cut, feeling fitter, and simply enjoying the experience of travelling around their city.
The Dublin Bike Blog 