Comments on: Velo Toulouse Bicycle Rental Program

By: Owen

Owen — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 13:28:18 +0000

Aren’t you supposed to be doing a translation and not procrastinating?

By: Lost in France

Lost in France — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:23:51 +0000

Oops! I wish I had read this before posting on my blog that the idea came from Paris. That having been said, if the idea hadn’t taken off in Paris we wouldn’t have seen it in Toulouse, in my opinion. (Justification for not changing my post, says he.)

By: Owen

Owen — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:07:55 +0000

I have heard about Lyon being the first but Sam does know everything so I bet it might have been Rennes. I wonder if it matters free vs the rental idea. 2 summers ago we rented bikes for 2€ a day and I know you could rent then by the month but you had to go to a trailer and talk with people and there were not that many around and a few times they were empty. These are the fully automated ones. Which city was the first to have these? I saw them in Antwerp, Ghent, and Brussells 2 summers ago, fully automated.

By: samantha

samantha — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:44:40 +0000

Bob, I actually think Rennes was the first one to offer the free bike system in France – they started on June 6, 1998.

By: Milena

Milena — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:32:11 +0000

Seems like you pretty much covered everything. What a great program. I’ll keep it in mind for when next I find myself on your side of the pond.

By: Owen

Owen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:06:17 +0000

More to come, stay tuned. When we rented bikes 2 summers ago, before the official Velib program started, there was a deposit also. If you were a tourist and just wanting to rent for the day or a couple of days while you were in town the deposit was in the form of an authorization on your credit card. Once the bikes were returned the authorization expired and we had no problems. If there were a problem we could have had our card automatically charged but I hear that rarely happens.

By: Bob Spencer

Bob Spencer — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:47:38 +0000

I wonder if any of the cities that go to the Velib (as they are called in Paris) will ever give credit to Lyon, which was the first French city to have them? You may start feeling the crunch as they’re doing in Paris. You may not have trouble finding a bike, but returning it to a place within a block or two of where you want to go, could be a problem. You didn’t mention the rather large deposit you must make which is probably the real reason not many are stolen. Plus people, in my opinion, are a bit more honest in France.