With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix them. It is commonplace now to see the bikes at docking stations in Paris with flat tires, punctured wheels or missing baskets. Some Vélib’s have been found hanging from lampposts, dumped in the Seine, used on the streets of Bucharest or resting in shipping containers on their way to North Africa.
In an unsuccessful effort to stop vandalism, Paris began an advertising campaign this summer. Posters showed a cartoon Vélib’ being roughed up by a thug. The caption read: ‘It’s easy to beat up a Vélib’, it can’t defend itself. Vélib’ belongs to you, protect it!’
French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality - The New York Times
(The clear solution, then, is to invent a bicycle that can defend itself.)
