In one night, the Vélo'v Lyonnais have a new look

Lyon – Code name: "night of 4.000". Objective: to change all self-service bicycles in Lyon between Tuesday and Wednesday. A "challenge" for the group JCDecaux, by way of foot-nose to the fiasco of Vélib 'Parisians he lost the contract.
  

" This is a real technical and industrial challenge that has been going on for months (…) A bit of your World Cup final to you ", launched at the beginning of the operation the director Regional Rhône-Alpes JCDecaux, Pascal Chopin, to address 120 employees from all over France for the occasion.

Changing the entire park in one night was " in the DNA of the offer " presented by JCDecaux to the Metropole de Lyon to renew its contract, so that there is a " continuity " of the service, underlines Anthonin Darbon, operating director France of Cyclocity – subsidiary of JCDecaux – who launched Vélo'v in 2005.

The French giant of the display has kept the market Lyon until 2032, after being doubled in Paris by the consortium Smovengo, which accumulates the failures for six months.

But " the idea is not to compare itself to Paris ," said the president of the Metropolis of Lyon, David Kimelfeld, " very serene " before the organization all " military " group JCDecaux.

– " More manageable " –

At 8:00 pm began the ballet of 32 semi-trailers, loaded since the day before by employees in insertion with the new models of Vélo'v, lighter and relooked. The stations had been emptied a little earlier. Cadence announced: 400 bicycles installed per hour.

At 4 o'clock in the night, 3,200 new bicycles will have to be ready for use and 400 will still be installed until the early morning hours; Another 400 will remain in stock for maintenance.

On the first station with the new frames, in Villeurbanne, the first users seem conquered: " beautiful ", " lighter, more manageable ", says Pierre, baker of 20 years old, who has traveled 5 km with an old model since the Croix-Rousse hill for the sole purpose of trying the new one.

" The basket is wider and more stylish ," says 22-year-old student and regular user of Vélo'v, Taher.

– Hybrid, already more expensive –

Before the renewal of the fleet, a first step took place on May 29 with the migration of the computer system and the launch of a digital application that allows including renting a bike from a phone.

This switch did not happen without some hiccups, with a peak of about 1,200 calls per day to customer service, against 300 to 400 usually, admits Mr. Chopin. But it did not prevent a rise in the number of subscribers: they are 73,000 currently against 68,000 previously, for nearly 9 million trips per year.

The terminals have also been redesigned for several weeks. In addition to changing the facades, future features include the removal of the bike near a full station.

In 2020, after some technical modifications, 2,500 bicycles will also become hybrid, the rental of a removable battery for electrical badistance. A " world premiere ", according to the Metropolis and JCDecaux.

But these changes are also accompanied by a tariff increase. If the first 30 minutes of use remain free, the price per day jumped from 1.5 to 4 euros and that of the annual subscription has increased from 25 to 31 euros – from 15 to 16.5 euros for the 14 -25 years, the rate for the beneficiaries of the RSA remaining at 15 euros.

A rise that Taher deems " logical " in view of " improved service ". But she is also dissatisfied.