Villo!

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Line of bikes at a Villo! station

Villo! is a public bicycle rental programme in Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium.

It was launched on 19 May 2009 in cooperation between the Brussels-Capital region and the company JCDecaux as a replacement of the former scheme Cyclocity, launched in 2006. According to the Belgian daily paper La Meuse it is more manageable and practical than its predecessor.[1]

By February 2011, 2500 bicycles could be rented at 162 locations spread over 11 of the 19 Brussels communes, namely Anderlecht, City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Ixelles, Jette, Koekelberg, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Saint-Gilles, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Schaerbeek and Sint-Agatha-Berchem.

Villo! bicycle

Eventually, bicycles should be available at 180 rental locations throughout the 11 communes at approximately 450m intervals. The other communes should be provided with bicycles in the course of the second phase. However, the decision to launch this phase belongs to the region of Brussels.

The bicycles are equipped with adjustable-height saddle, 7-speed gear, front basket, covered chain drive, always-on front and rear lights, front and rear disc brakes, puncture-resistant Schwalbe Marathon tires and integrated bicycle lock; this all adds up to a weight of 22 kg.

Since May 2011, holders of a transit card for STIB, the Brussels mass transit authority, have been able to use their card to access the Villo! network.[2] Use of Villo increases on days of public transit strikes, for example doubling on the day of the general strike, 30 January 2012. [3]

As of May 2011 the system had 22,000 regular subscibers. On average 25,000 bikes were used per week. [4] Plans are under way for an expansion of the network in a second phase which will expand to more communities in the Brussels area. [4]

According to the Region of Brussels, 400 car parking places have been removed to make way for villo stations during the first phase of the project.[5] Some residents have complained about the loss of permanent parking spots, but proponents of the programme argue that overall the programme should increase the amount of parking available due to a long term reduction in motorised traffic.

Contents

[edit] Cyclocity

The original cyclocity programme, also run by JCDecaux was launched on 17 September 2006 to coincide with Car Free Day that year. Originally there were 250 bikes available at 23 stations, exclusively in the city of Brussels proper, that is to say the old city. The programme was not a success, with most of the blame going to the limited scope of the network. It was relaunched under the Villo! brand in 2009 with an expanded network.

Terminal and map point at a Villo! station
Bicycles of the former Cyclocity programme

[edit] Issues

[edit] Bicycle Distribution

Stations especially those at greater elevations are regularly empty. Other stations are regularly full. JCDecaux tries to fix this problem by transporting bicycles between stations with special vans but the service is insufficient. The company has said it will expand some stations to address the problem in September 2010.[6] The independent website "Where's My Villo?" uses real-time data to track the performance of Brussels' bike-sharing scheme, Villo!, and aims to get JCDecaux to improve bike availability.[7]

[edit] Tariffs [8]

Tariffs
1 year 1 day 1 week
Basic Tariff € 30 € 1,5 € 7
Number of transportations Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
0 – 30 min Free Free Free
30 min – 1hr + € 0,5 + € 0,5 + € 0,5
1hr – 1,5hr + € 1 + € 1 + € 1
1,5hr – 2hr + € 2 + € 2 + € 2
> 2hr per 30 min. + € 2 + € 2 + € 2

[edit] Stations

There are 180 stations in 11 municipalities. The density of stations in each municipality varies from 0.3 stations/km² to 4.5 stations/km².

Municipality No. of stations Area (km²) Density (station/km²)
Anderlecht 5 17,7 0,3
Sint-Agatha-Berchem 2 2,9 0,7
City of Brussels 59 32,6 1,8
Etterbeek 10 3,1 3,2
Ixelles 27 6,3 4,3
Jette 8 5,0 1,6
Koekelberg 5 1,2 4,2
Sint-Jans-Molenbeek 10 5,9 1,7
Saint-Gilles 11 2,5 4,4
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode 5 1,1 4,4
Schaerbeek 38 8,1 4,5

Details of the stations:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bruxelles: nous avons testé Villo, le vélo à louer, La Meuse, 13 May 2009
  2. ^ "Rouler à Villo! passe aussi par MOBIB". STIB. http://www.stib.be/villo.html. Retrieved 31 January 2012. 
  3. ^ "Grève générale: la location de Villo! a doublé ce lundi" (in French). La Capitale.be. 30 January 2012. http://www.lacapitale.be/regions/bruxelles/2012-01-30/greve-generale-la-location-de-villo-a-double-ce-lundi-935129.shtml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter. Retrieved 31 January 2012. 
  4. ^ a b "Villo! telt meer dan 22.000 abonnees" (in Dutch). De Standaard. 18 May 2011. http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20110518_163. Retrieved 31 January 2012. 
  5. ^ "Bruxelles a perdu 400 places de parking". RTBF. 3 August 2011. http://www.rtbf.be/info/regions/detail_bruxelles-a-perdu-400-places-de-parking?id=6545073. Retrieved 31 January 2012. 
  6. ^ "Bruxelles: Villo!, entre stations combles et stations vides" (in French). RTBF. 2010-08-16. http://www.rtbf.be/info/regions/bruxelles/bruxelles-villo-entre-stations-combles-et-stations-vides-245595. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  7. ^ "A la recherche désespérée de Villo" (in French). 2010-08-09. http://www.lalibre.be/actu/bruxelles/article/608065/a-la-recherche-desesperee-de-villo.html. Retrieved 2011-03-20. 
  8. ^ Villo! tariffs

[edit] External links

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