cyclingFriends and colleagues who know that I’m a proud user of the Paris Velib bike rental system have been peppering me with questions since the New York Times and French papers including Le Parisien ran stories on cycle vandalism. It suffices to point out that the articles managed to convey a grim view of the state of the Velib system.

I’m a skeptic, and I think the story is slightly different from the one reported. Here’s my take:

  1. Cycle theft is a concern. By theft, we understand cyclists who borrow but never return bikes. Thankfully, cycles are no hijacked while in motion, and they are solidly locked while at rest. Cycles are rented after the cyclist provides credit card details and accepts to be charged € 150 in case of loss. Compared to the cost of a new bike, € 150 may be an acceptable price to pay: some renters may keep a bike by pure calculation. A few schemers may even have designs to take a bike for free, by using data of a credit card that will expire or become depleted (prepaid cards are stating to be used as gifts). This having been said, reported disappearances of 100 cycles per week seem far fetched, and I can’t help but wonder whether most cycles that go missing eventually are recovered.
  2. Most vandalism is abuse. I’m inclined to view as anecdotal the more spectacular cases of extreme cycling (as in this video, which I suspect is tinged by parody). I suspect most abuse occurs at night and is done by young people, probably drunk. Of the 20 000 cycles in circulation, 11 600 reportedly have been vandalized (over 18 months), and the operator has filed 3 257 complaints with the police (that include thefts). From what I’ve seen, this latter figure seems to capture the frequency of vandalism. This works out to an average 180 incidents per month, or about 1% of the bike fleet.
  3. Much of the problem actually stems, from what I’ve seen and experienced, from insufficient repairs and maintenance. There simply aren’t enough people spending enough time keeping the fleet in good working order. Economics dictate this outcome. Velib operator JC Decaux runs the system in exchange for the right to display outdoor advertising. Having incurred up-front costs to install the cycles, I expect the operator will be inclined to limit its expenditures on maintenance. The present climate, unfriendly for selling space to advertisers, reasonably pushes the operator to complain of high repair costs, maybe even to recast ordinary maintenance as extraordinary abuse. Velib cyclists ultimately bear the costs.

I’m eager to put together a business school case study that would look into a rental cycle’s useful life,  the extent of wear and tear that might be considered normal, and good, cost-effective processes to deliver maintenance service.