Vélib‘sis a public bicycle rental programme in Paris. The initiative was pushed by Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë.
The system was launched on 15 July 2007, following Lyon’s Vélo’v success. Ten thousand bicycles were introduced to the city with 750 automated rental stations each with fifteen or more bikes/spaces. This number has since grown to 20,000 bicycles and 1,450 stations, roughly one station every 300 metres throughout the city centre, making Vélib’ the largest system of its kind in the world.
Each Vélib’ service point/station is equipped with an automatic rental terminal and stands for dozens of bicycles. Maps showing the station locations are available at all kiosks.
If a user arrives with a rented bicycle at a station without open spots, the terminal grants another fifteen minutes of free rental time. The rental terminals also display information about neighbouring Vélib’ stations, including location, number of available bicycles and open stands. A fleet of twenty bicycle-transporting vehicles are used over night to redistribute bicycles to high-demand stations in time for the next morning.