Vélopartage

Vélopartage is a neologism indicating the Concept of divided bicycles ( Bike-sharing in English). The principle of this concept is the provision, free or not, of bicycles with an aim mainly of displacement. The principles of bicycles in self-service , or self-service bicycle , recut the concept of divided bicycles , even also possibly the free Vélos downtown. The terms City Bike or Citybike generally return to bicycles in self-service or divided bicycles .

Concept

The Vélo can especially constitute for some a good means of displacement in Ville and, contrary to a sporting use of this one, it is not necessary to have an expensive bicycle combining a technical good quality and a high comfort. Certain cyclists besides will prefer bicycles stripped technically for a weak investment financial and sufficient within the framework of urban displacements, the flight being besides also a notable motivation for “economic” bicycles. Such bicycles can easily be mutualized for a common use by a group what constitutes the base of the concept of “ Vélopartage ”. The principle of a service of divided bicycles is the provision for a group (subscribed, inhabitants of a city, tourists, users of a park, etc) of bicycles thus shared. If the service does not require the intervention of a person ensuring a permanence for the management of the loans, this one is by extension a system of bicycles in self-service .

The principle of the vélopartage is, seemingly, the application of the concepts of the Autopartage to the Vélo. The concept applied to simple and economic means of transport takes very an other dimension. The investment is definitely less and of the offers of free Vélos downtown could be proposed by municipalities. A wide concept of divided bicycles consists with the provision through the city of a maximum of points, bicycles at disposal; users returning these bicycles at the end of their use, if possible at the end of a way if the latter are ensured to find another bicycle for a way return. One of the oldest notable systems are the Bycyklen (or City Bike ) of Copenhagen according to a concept of Morten Sadolin, Wessung Ole and Niels Christiansen. Such systems could be set up directly by municipalities - as with the Denmark or in Finland - or thanks to Association S - as in Copenhagen and for Viennabike or '' pink bicycles '' at the Chaux-de-Fonds - or in a more commercial way such as the concept Cyclocity or Call has Bike in Germany. The majority of these systems are financed mainly by the Publicité.

The City Bike of Copenhagen

The Bycyklen (or City Bike , public Bicycles ) of Copenhagen are bicycles in self-service according to a concept defined by Morten Sadolin and Wessung Ole, then taking up ideas already developed in the years 1970. The latter imagined in 1988 a service where each user can take a bicycle for his way, leaving its free bicycle, once used, with another user. One of the motivations for such a service is mainly the problem of the flight of very frequent bicycle to the Denmark. Indeed according to the police force, part of the stolen bicycles are it for a simple use by the robber without being with final resold. Simple Utopia at the beginning, they started again their project in 1991. This one could be concretized in 1995 with the participation of Niels Christiansen which ensured in particular the settling technical of the project available of spring to the autumn.

The Bycyklen or City Bike were a real success and some do not hesitate to compare them with the other symbol of the city, the small Danish siren. The system has by imported aillor with Århus, another Danish city and also in the Finnish capital, Helsinki.

The failure of Viennabike

The model of the Bycyklen Danish had been transposed in addition to Vienna, to Austria. Set up at the origin by an association, Viennabike consisted of the free provision of bicycles through the city with a system identical to that of Copenhagen. Viennabike, victim of too many flights as of the first days, was replaced since by the system Cyclocity of JCDecaux under the name Citybike Wien . Such a failure marks the limits of such systems which appear not very protected, no similar application will not consequently see the day apart from the Scandinavian countries.

The development of commercial offers

The transposition of systems as the Bycyklen of Copenhagen is not obvious everywhere, as could note it with their costs the project executors Viennabike . The flight of bicycles remains with final the main obstacle with the installation of such services. However in front of the success of the operation near the public, certain industrialists launched out in the settling of technically more elaborate systems, in particular with regard to safety with systems of guarantee and Antivol S.

Cal has Bike

Call has Bike is a service of hiring of Vélo S with the request proposed by the Deutsche Bahn (dB). The system was invented in 1998 per the data processing specialist and contractor Christian Hogl and is proposed by the Deutsche Bahn in particular as service of transport complementary to the offer of train or Métro.

It is available today in the towns of Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart.

  • Call has Bike (or Call E Bike flex )

After recording - by telephone with a Credit card, only the payment of an advance of consumption of 5 € is required -, the user can rent any bicycle available by calling a number registers on this one. The bicycles of the system are not laid out in stations but are not distributed in the city on the level of the principal crossroads. Each bicycle has a lock - indicating the availability of this one by an indicator - unboltable with the code given by telephone.

After use, the bicycle can be left with any crossroads in the zone-center of the city; after locking of the lock, the formless user of the new site of the bicycle by a call near the service Call has Bike .

  • Call has Bike fix

A new offer of this system with Stuttgart uses precise fixed sites where to take and deposit the bicycles instead of a free dispersion in the city.

Such a system was in addition transposed to London, OYBike , and taken again by a new German operator, Nextbike .

Offers of service associated with the advertizing market

The two principal world bill-posters in turn launched offers of bicycles in self-service, suggested with the municipalities normally simultaneously with the management of the urban advertizing display and urban furniture. The coupling of these offers makes it possible - always within the framework of a financing of the service by the Publicité - to rather use standard postings of 2 m2 than to use the bicycles or the stations like advertizing medium.

Clear Chanel which proposes its service Vélo with the chart in Rennes since 1998 however places in precursor its direct competitor on the advertizing market, JCDecaux, succeeded in developing a service now voted by plebiscite in France, in place in particular with Lyon ( Vélo' v ) and with Paris ( Vélib' ). This last deposited under the name Cyclocity is accessible to occasional or new users in an immediate way contrary to its competitor which is open only to users recorded generally beforehand.

See also: Cyclocity

In general and whatever the system, the user obtains a chart after recording - and the subscription for a subscription if necessary - which will enable him to borrow any bicycle in one of the stations distributed in the city by unbolting a theft protection device which attaches the bicycle to the station; the loan is then recorded by the computing system. The bicycle can be then returned in any station if a place is available. The loan is normally limited in time - 24 hours maximum - and if the service is paying, it generally offers a duration of exemption from payment - half an hour at 2 a.m. following the services - to each use, the tariff of overtime can increase with the duration of hiring thus supporting the use of the bicycle for short ways of station at station. After a simple way , the user is encouraged to make his bicycle, assured to find of them another for a way return or a new course.

Today, even if the first offers were financed quasi completely by the advertizing revenues, as for the service headlight of JCDecaux to Lyon, Vélo' v , a consequent service was considered like not-viable without a notable subsidizing by the municipalities or grouping of communes by JCDecaux itself . If the cities generally state not to spend one centime at the time of the installation of such a service, it would seem that those agree to be deprived on the one hand considerable of the royalty related to the advertizing market or accept an increase in posting. For that it should be added that the tariffs of very generous use of the Lyons offer vélo' v were strongly raised in the new Cyclocity offers in place in France.

New actors of mobility

Simple anecdotic service in the beginning, the offers of vélopartage proposed a novel mode of transport which enters the strategies of displacement installation by the cities. By doing this, Clear Chanel and JCDecaux passed from the statute of bill-poster to that of actor of urban mobility. The system was voted by plebiscite by many cities in France and Europe, grace partly for a purpose of mode, causing the development of other offers. In this context, new offers appeared, as Vélo+ in Orleans designed by EFFIA which is an example of service of vélopartage independent of the advertizing market. The associative sector is also interested in the possibility of setting up of such systems and for example with Toulouse, an association was transformed into co-operative so as to answer an invitation to tender of vélopartage of the city.

Chronology

  • 1974 the town of La Rochelle proposes 350 yellow bicycles on 3 points of hiring in complement of its offer of public transport.
  • 1988 Morten Sadolin and Wessung Ole, of return of one evening in friends, realize that their bicycles were stolen; constrained to return to feet they imagine a system of bicycles in self-service divided.
  • 1991 the idea of the Bycyklen of Copenhagen east launched by Mr. Sadolin and W. Ole, they will be helped then by Niels Christiansen, then will launch the Fonden Bycyklen on the basis of public/private partnership.
  • 1995 May 30th, 1995, launching of Bycyklen to Copenhagen, Denmark.
    Mise at the point of the system Call has Bike by Christian Hogl.
  • 2000 Lancement of the first service Call has Bike with Munich in Germany;
    Lancement of a service of bicycles in free free service, HKL Citybike , with Helsinki in Finland on the model of the Bycyklen Danish ;
    Clear Chanel lance several offers of bicycles in self-service with Singapore, today all abandoned.
  • 2002 Launching of Viennabike by an association with Vienna in Austria, always on the model of the Bycyklen but the service failed at the end of a few weeks.
  • 2003 May 2003, replacement of the system Viennabike by Citybike Wien , the first launching of the system Cyclocity of JCDecaux.
    June 2003, installation of two systems Cyclocity in Spain (Gijón and Córdoba) at small scales and entirely free.
  • 2005 May 2005, launching of the service Vélo' v with Lyon, more important service of bicycles in self-service with its launching; it will remain it until the launching of the service Vélib' with Paris.
  • * 2007 March 22nd, 2007, launching of bicing to Barcelona in Spain, the new most important application, of the system of Clear Chanel.
    June 25th, 2007, launching with Orleans of vélo+ by the group EFFIA, first service of this type exploited apart from a market of advertizing urban furniture in France.
    July 15th, 2007, launching of the service Vélib' with Paris, more important service of bicycles in self-service in the world.

List services of vélopartage or bicycles in self-service in Europe

the free or paying points of hiring suggested by unquestionable municipality are not listed here, on this subject to see free Vélos downtown. Nom' with City DateLancement - Standard/Operator -: X bicycles in X stations - nom-du-site. -->
  • in Germany
  • in Austria
    • with Vienna May 2003 - Cyclocity/JCDecaux - www.citybikewien.at .
    • Nextbike in Neusiedel, Mörbisch, St Andrä, Eisenstadt.
  • in Belgium
  • with the Denmark
    • bycyklen københavn with Copenhagen May 30th, 1995 -: 2000 bicycles in 110 stations available from April/May to November/December - www.bycyklen.dk .
    • Bycykel Århus with standard Århus “bycyklen” - www.aarhusbycykel.dk .
  • in Spain
    • Eco-bici/Cyclocity with Córdoba and Gijón-Bici with Gijón June 2003 - Cyclocity/JCDecaux - Ayuntamiento de Córdoba there of Gijón.
    • with Barcelona March 22nd, 2007 - Clear Chanel -: 1500 bicycles in 100 stations - www.bicing.com .
  • in Finland
    • HKL Citybike with standard Helsinki “bycyklen” - Citybikes on www.hel.fi
  • in France
  • in Norway
    • Sandnes Bysykkel in Sandnes Depuis 2000 - Bysykler on www.sandnes.kommune.no
    • Oslo Bysykkel with Oslo, Drammen Bysykkel with Drammen, Trondheim Bysykkel with Trondheim and Bergen Clear Chanel - www.adshel.no .
    • Porsgrunn Bysykkel with Porsgrunn Depuis 2003 - Smart City Bike /JCDecaux - Bysyklene er på plass I Porsgrunn! on www.porsgrunn.kommune.no
  • with the Netherlands
    • , more than 120 at points through the country ProRail - www.ov-fiets.nl
  • with the Portugal
    • BUGA - Bicycles of Free Use of Aveiro to standard Aveiro “bycyklen” /MoveAveiro - www.moveaveiro.pt .
  • with the the United Kingdom
    • in the West of London ( West London ) “standard Call has Bike” /OYBike Systems Ltd. - oybike.com .
  • in Sweden
    • Stockholm City Bikes with Stockholm Clear Chanel -: 1000 bicycles in 80 stations - Swiss www.stockholmcitybikes.se
  • in
See free Bicycles downtown.

Notes and references of the article

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