Thefts puncture Paris bike scheme

[palesa]

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7881079.stm

Kerouac, have you read this?

[Deleted]

Yes, there has been a lot of publicity. I am not sure if the figures are accurate, because the company providing the bicycles makes a gigantic profit by inflating the damage and theft figures, especially since 31 suburban cities are joining the bicycle plan this spring and the installation of the new bicycle stations has begun.

(The bicycles are worth about 150€ each, but the city pays 400€ per bicycle past a certain number of missing or destroyed bicycles. I'm sure that the various insurance companies are involved as well.)

[tigronette]

Round where I live, some local pranksters had fun painting a row of these things pink (they're usually grey)

[Deleted]

Even though Vélib is still flourishing, there are a number of serious problems at the moment. The 18th, 19th and 20th arrondissements have been under attack by bike thieves who rip the bikes loose from their hitching posts. The bikes are often damaged and unusable once they are ripped loose, and the hitching post is also damaged and out of service.

Since there is no solution yet, the only reaction has been for the city to close down certain stations (including my station) with the worst problems. Before my station was closed down, with 48 hitching posts, it had 7 of them blocked by the twisted remains of bike hooks.

I would imagine that an organized band is stealing the bikes (and shipping them off to..... ?), and until the gang is dismantled, the problem will remain.

Obviously research continues on ways to make these bikes foolproof, but any additional security raises the cost, so it is a real dilemma.

[mossie]

That is a great pity. Although I don't use them I think it is a brilliant idea.

[patricklondon]

>>I would imagine that an organized band is stealing the bikes<<

They must be organised. Those are hefty bikes with pretty substantial moorings. I did once see a lorry that was far too large for a side-street off the Rue des Ecoles make too wide a turn on the corner and rip out a bike from the Velib stand on the corner, but this sounds too systematic.

Sounds like a case for CCTV and some targetted surveillance.

[lagatta]

Yes, and you can't just sell your stolen Vélib on craigslist or a neighbourhood notice board. Aren't a lot of them destined for faraway locations?

[Deleted]

Yes, and since they were built specifically with non-standard sized parts to make theft less interesting, they are going to the countries where absolutely anything can be repaired with a piece of coat hanger, a soda can and two lengths of string.

[bjd]

Those reparations sound like sub-Saharan Africa. I thought many of the Velibs were going to Russia and points east?

[nycgirl]

That is such a shame.

Here in NYC we have Citibike, similar to the Velib. The bikes aren't installed all over the city, though. I hope the program is successful so we'll get more of them.

[Deleted]

This article about the Boris bikes in London, mentions that Vélib is still making a profit, though.

[lagatta]

I'm sure there are places in Eastern Europe where clandestine bicycle chopshops exist. Especially in the former Soviet Union.

NYCGirl and Kerouac, the sad thing about this is that it deprives people in the relatively poorer areas of major cities of the useful bike share. It is somewhat restricted in any event by the need for a credit card, but many people of very limited means do have one now.

I cycled around my neighbourhood a lot today as the festival I was working on has wound up so I knew I had free time, I had many errands to run, and rain was threatening so I didn't take off on a longer ride to another part of town. There are a lot of "bits" of bicycle paths and lanes, some hooked up to others, but not all. There has been considerable effort in my arrondissement, but it is obviously far from complete.

The Bixi bikes are an important part of the mix. For one thing, they are somewhat slow and clunky, which calms the cycle traffic considerably. I'm seeing a lot more children riding - older children on their own, smaller children with their parents. More older people, more visibly pregnant women. These indicate more confidence and feeling of safety, but it is still far from perfect.