Vélib'

Vélib’ is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. Launched on 15 July 2007, the system encompasses around 14,500 bicycles and 1,230 bicycle stations, located across Paris and in some surrounding municipalities, with an average daily ridership of 85,811 in 2011. The name Vélib' is a portmanteau of the French words vélo (English: "bicycle") and liberté ("freedom").

Vélib’ is operated as a concession by the French advertising corporation JCDecaux.As of 2014, Vélib' is the world's 12th-largest bikesharing program by the number of bicycles in circulation; the rest of the top 18 are in Chinese cities.As of July 2013, Velib' has the highest market penetration with 1 bike per 97 inhabitants, followed by Vélo'v in Lyon with 1 bike per 121 residents, and Hangzou in China with 1 per 145. Since December 2011, Vélib’ has been complemented by Autolib', an electric car sharing scheme operating on similar principles.

History

The initiative was proposed by Paris mayor and French Socialist Party member Bertrand Delanoë. The system was launched on 15 July 2007, following Lyon's Vélo'v success and the pioneering 1974 scheme in La Rochelle. 7,000 bicycles were initially introduced to the city, distributed among 750 automated rental stations, with fifteen or more bicycle parking slots each. The following year, the initiative was enlarged to some 16,000 bicycles and 1,200 rental stations, with roughly one station every 300 metres (980 ft) throughout the city centre. making Vélib' the third-most-extensive system of its kind in the world, surpassed in station numbers only by systems in Hangzhou and Wuhan in China.