Greater Lyon launched in May VeloV,
an innovative service of cycle rental for
very short duration. Rental spots are
spread across the cities of Lyons and
Villeurbanne, where about 600,000
people live and work.
The network consists
of almost 200 stations, situated in strategic
locations and no more than five minutes
away from any place in the city.
Three kinds of subscription are proposed,
with different prices and different billing
options (pre-paid or post-paid). In any case,
it is necessary to get a VeloV Card for
insurance purposes in case of damages or
liability.
It is then possible to take a bike
from a station and to let it in any station of
the network. The first 30 minutes of use are
free of charge, which encourages strongly
the use for short trips.
The TECELY public
transport smartcard also gives access to the
service. People using this type of card benefit
from a 60 minutes period free of charge.
On 1 September, 23,000 people have register
and have access to the 2,000 cycles available.
The first inquiries showed that average trips
length was 2.8 kilometres for a duration of
20 minutes, with a massive use during peak
hours and near main train and metro stations,
showing the complementarily with public
transport.
An extension of the service to 400
stations and 4,000 cycles is forecast for 2006.
The annual cost of operation is about €1,000
per cycle including the rental electronic
devices, i.e. €2 million for the whole fleet.
The system is managed by JCDecaux and is
included in a global 13 years contract of
street furniture funded by Greater Lyons.