I received an email this morning from Steve Connor the CEO of JCDecaux Australia informing me of their exciting Cyclocity bicycle hire service launched during car free day in Brussels. I met Steve at the Cycling Promotion Fund 'Business of Cycling Breakfast' earlier this week. It was a great event with the broad range of cycling proponents in attendance including the head of bicycle Police unit, bike importers, retailers, sporting and tourist operators, health experts and government. Councillor John McInerney gave an address on the new City of Sydney draft bike plan www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
As we roll out more cycling infrastructure across the City of Sydney it will be exciting to offer a bicycle hire service for residents, workers and tourists of this quality in Sydney.
Media Release below and read about Cyclocity here and images..
JCDecaux launches Cyclocity® in Brussels
on the city’s ‘car-free day’
Paris, September 18, 2006 – JCDecaux (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number
one outdoor advertising company in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region,
and number two worldwide, yesterday launched Cyclocity® in Brussels on the
city’s annual ‘car-free day’. With 250 self-service bicycles available at
23 cycle racks, this innovative system is now up and running within the
pentagon of boulevards surrounding central Brussels.
Following Vienna (Austria), Cordoba and Gijon (Spain), Brussels becomes
the 4th city outside France to team up with JCDecaux, the world leader in selfservice
bicycle hire, and offer this pioneering form of individual public
transport.
In France, Cyclocity® (christened Vélo’v® by the greater Lyons area), has
enjoyed unprecedented success since its début in Lyons in May 2005. The
system’s 60,000 subscribers – who hire bicycles up to 28,000 times per day –
have already covered 10 million kilometers in the space of 15 months,
averaging a daily total of 40,000 kilometers - equal to the circumference of
the Earth at the equator..
According to a BVA survey carried out in May 2006, Vélo’v® users are
extremely satisfied with the service, giving it an average score of 7.7 out of
10. Acting as veritable ambassadors for the service, they contribute to its
continued development through favourable word-of-mouth publicity. Indeed,
Vélo’v® enjoys a personal recommendation rate of almost 90%.
Brussels will now become a new showcase for Cyclocity for cities wanting to
adopt this new type of eco-friendly transport system.
Commenting on the launch of Cyclocity® in Brussels, Jean-Charles Decaux,
Chairman of the Executive Board and co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “With
Cyclocity, JCDecaux is introducing its pioneering means of individual public
transport for the first time in Belgium. This is why we decided, in agreement
with the City of Brussels, to launch this system on the highly symbolic
occasion of ‘car-free day’..
“In line with the expectations currently expressed by cities and citizens in
terms of sustainable development, Cyclocity® forms an integral part of the
urban landscape as an eco-friendly answer to the problems of excessive car
use and pollution while simultaneously guaranteeing safety, comfort and ease
of use. With its development constantly driven by innovation, JCDecaux is
demonstrating once again, with Cyclocity®, its ability to offer local
communities new solutions capable of meeting the challenges confronting
them, notably in the area of environmental protection”.
Key Figures for the JCDecaux Group:
- 2005 revenues: €1,745.2m, first half 2006 revenues: €945.8M
- JCDecaux is listed on the Eurolist of the Euronext Paris stock exchange, and is part of
the Euronext 100 and FTSE4Good indices.
- N°1 worldwide in street furniture (318,000 advertising panels)
- N°1 worldwide in airport advertising with 153 airports and more than 300 transport
contracts in metros, buses, tramways and trains (207,000 advertising panels)
- N°1 in Europe for billboards (200,000 advertising panels)
- N°1 in outdoor advertising in China (79,000 advertising panels in 20 different cities)
- 725,000 advertising panels in 48 countries
- Present in over 3,400 cities with over 10,000 inhabitants
- 7,900 employees
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5 comments:
Will bicycle helmets also be for hire or will each person be expected to provide his/her own helmet?
Not a bad idea, although I have my doubts about the whole cycling thing really kicking off in the Sydney CBD. It just seems that (aside from maybe the western fringes) the CBD lacks decent bike-friendly infrastructure.
It doesn't affect me much personally (I don't ride or, for that matter, drive), but coming from Canberra originally, I can't help but notice how much more difficult a time cyclists have of it down here. I'm not a huge fan of making cyclists ride in traffic, and the footpaths are really too congested to allow riders there, either. Maybe a solution can be retrofitted to the existing infrastructure?
As the CBD becomes more crowded, I think we'll see more and more buildings linking to accommodate foot traffic, much like the pedestrian thoroughfare that currently runs from the HSBC building through to Pitt St Mall.
Not too long ago, several local and state government agencies jointly conducted a survey of tunnels beneath the CBD; whilst the outcome of this study isn't on public display, I think it'd be fair to say that there's not much space left down there, either.
As Council approves more shopping malls in the CBD, I think we'll see more enclosed pedestrian bridges over the streets. Would it be possible to also plan for maybe half a dozen bicycle "freeways" to criss-cross the CBD above street level, to tie in with this?
Cross-city tunnel aside, it seems to me that traffic congestion is going to get worse in the CBD—and that the number of accidents involving cyclists might increase as a result. Council should probably start making plans to deal with cycle traffic now, whilst there are still opportunities to do so.
Thanks for the comments and apologies for the delay in posting - technical problem at Blogger.
On the helmets - I believe so but will check when I speak with JC Decaux this week.
David makes some very good observations about the changes to the city and the challenges implementing cycing infrastructure. The Council is opposed to pedestrian overpasses such as you se on Market Street. I am not so concerned about these and I greatly appreciate the convenience (eg Westfield to David Jones bridges).
Cyclng bridges has some merit when demand warrants. However my experince is that cyclists like to be part of the buzz and vibe of our streets particularly when they are riding into the CBD to reach and office buiding for work. Longer distance commuter cycling lanes can be elevated or isolated to avoid bottlenecks and dangerous points. Hard to see how we can intergrate easy access with overhead paths in the CBD itself. Maybe putting bikes on the mono-rail track is an idea (that's said with tongue in cheek).
cheers
Do JCdecaux make money on this?
I hope so! The last time I checked our system of government we are a free enterprise democracy. Profits equal more taxes and more employment. Good on them.
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