<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; "><h2 style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; "><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/40478;_ylc=X3oDMTJyMTNubTRjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzI0ODY2NDIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDQ0MDA0BG1zZ0lkAzQwNDc4BHNlYwNkbXNnBHNsawN2bXNnBHN0aW1lAzEyMzQzNjk1NjI-" name="1" style="line-height: 1.22em; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); text-decoration: none; ">Citing thefts, Paris "Velib" bike sharing operator wants out</a></h2><h4 style="font: normal normal normal 77%/normal verdana; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; ">Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:38 pm (PST)</h4><div class="ygrp-content" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 100%; line-height: 1.22em; ">Published Tuesday, February 10, 2009, BBC News (UK)<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Thefts puncture Paris bike scheme<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">A popular bicycle rental scheme in Paris that has transformed travel <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">in the city has run into problems just 18 months after its successful <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">launch.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">disappeared, presumed stolen.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">They have been used 42 million times since their introduction but <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">vandalism and theft are taking their toll.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The company which runs the scheme, JCDecaux, says it can no longer <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">afford to operate the city-wide network.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Championed by Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, the bikes were part of<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">an attempt to "green" the capital.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Parisians took to them enthusiastically. But the bikes have suffered <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">more than anticipated, company officials have said.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Vélib extreme<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Hung from lamp posts, dumped in the River Seine, torched and broken <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">into pieces, maintaining the network is proving expensive. Some have <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">turned up in eastern Europe and Africa, according to press reports.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Since the scheme's launch, nearly all the original bicycles have<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">been replaced at a cost of 400 euros ($519, £351) each.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The Velib bikes -- the name is a contraction of velo (cycle) and <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">liberte (freedom) -- have also fallen victim to a craze known as<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">"velib extreme". <br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Various videos have appeared on YouTube showing riders taking the <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">bikes down the steps in Montmartre, into metro stations and being <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">tested on BMX courses.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Remi Pheulpin, JCDecaux's director general, says the current contract <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">is unsustainable. "It's simple. All the receipts go to the city. All <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">the expenses are ours," he said.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The costs, he said, were "so high that a private business cannot <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">handle it alone, espcially as it's a problem of public order. If<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">we want the velib set-up to keep going, we'll have to change the <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">business model," he told Le Parisien newspaper.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Customised<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The original contract gave the advertising company a 10-year licence <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">to exploit 1,600 city-wide billboards in return for running the <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">scheme, plus a share in the revenue, estimated at 20m euros for the <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">first year of operation.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">City hall has recently agreed to pay towards the costs of replacing <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">the stolen or trashed bicycles but is refusing to bail out the <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">company.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Not all the bicycles receive rough treatment however. One velib <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">repairman reported finding one of the bikes customised with fur <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">covered tyres.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">The scheme was modelled on one in Lyon, which appears to have been <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">less troublesome, and has been extended to other cities in France.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">It is also being copied overseas with London, San Francisco and <br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Singapore all intending to set up similar schemes.<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">PARIS CYCLE SCHEME IN NUMBERS<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">20,000 bicycles<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">1,250 stations<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Cost 400 euros each to replace<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">7,800 "disappeared"<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">11,600 vandalised<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">1,500 daily repairs<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Staff recover 20 abandoned bikes a day<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Each bike travels 10,000 km a year<br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">42 million users since launch<br style="line-height: 1.22em; "><br style="line-height: 1.22em; ">Source: Velib</div></span></body></html>