I am still smarting from a family experience trying to get around Paris on Vélib 2, their bike share scheme with docks (there are a couple of other free-floating bike operators remaining as well). By 6pm we had given up and were walking.
So, the new franco-spanish operator Smovengo has screwed up Vélib since the beginning of the year, journeys have dropped by 70,000 a day since late 2017, and I believe they have until September to meet targets otherwise their contract may be withdrawn by the Mayor (possibly with greater chaos resulting?). it seems from numerous press reports that the scheme is in dire trouble. [https://www.politico.eu/article/velib-paris-last-velo-bike/] [https://www.france24.com/en/20180731-france-liberty-paris-bikes-cars-share-autolib-velib-rent] . Practically, there aren't enough functioning bikes on the stands after 8 months of the new operator. Its plans to upgrade the fleet ran into 'difficulties', the stands themselves are not always functional today and many bikes that actually are in good order cannot be withdrawn from a dock even after entering a valid code and PIN (that is the most frustrating thing- dock problems). The helpline basically just offered (in French and English - I speak both) to refund our one day pass rather than offering any solutions to find functioning bikes - I guess they have given up. The bikes themselves are not too bad, and there are some electric ones, but we could not withdraw any of the 20 or so we tried.
Ruined vacation day aside, from a research perspective, I can see Bruno Latour and his ilk having a field day given his work on failed grand technological schemes. Perhaps he is even a user, although probably not...There are loads of analyses and reportage that could be written.. Overoptimistic belief in technology is confounded by the material realities of initiating change quickly? Or, despite a ready market of customers, the scheme gets mired in complex institutional muddles in a very bureaucratic and rule-driven policy environment (supply of electricity to rebuilt stands arises as a major issue)? Heureux Cyclage, the French bike coop association, hint at some lessons (and ongoing crises). https://www.heureux-cyclage.org/velib-2-le-retour-a-un-service.html?lang=fr
Next time I am taking our fleet of folding Birdys.
Dr. Simon Batterbury
Professor of Political Ecology, LEC, Lancaster University, UK, Europe. S.batterbury @ lancaster.ac.uk
Principal Fellow | School of Geography | | University of Melbourne, 3010 VIC, Australia. | simonpjb @ unimelb.edu.au
http://www.simonbatterbury.net
OA and affordable journal list http://tinyurl.com/ze9b4zp
Journal of Political Ecology http://jpe.library.arizona.edu
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