[p2p-research] bikesharing in paris, not so bad at all

[Kevin Carson]

On 2/13/09, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> an update on the velib bikesharing story, which sheds a different light,
> from http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009425.html

> "It's in large part a PR issue," says Luc Nadal of the Institute for
> Transportation and Development Policy. Some aspects of the Vélib contract
> are still in flux, and the sky-is-falling press coverage gives JCDecaux a
> stronger hand in those negotiations. "Their bargaining position depends on
> the public's perception."
>
> Not that bicycle abuse is a phantom problem. It exacts a real toll, but much
> of that cost has been anticipated and accounted for. Last July, the city of
> Paris agreed to pay JCDecaux 400 euros for every bike stolen in excess of
> four percent of the total fleet each year. Given the enormous popularity of
> Vélib -- users have taken 42 million rides since its debut -- the cost of
> those payments is minimal. Using the BBC's figure of 7,800 missing bikes,
> the pricetag for the city comes to less than 2 million euros annually, out
> of 20 million euros in user fees.

So despite the company's protestations, it is quite sustainable.  But
it's "sustainable" from the perspective of a "public-private
partnership" subsidized from taxpayers.  Absent such corporatist
collusion using the taxpayer as a source of "free" money, I doubt any
private commons providing bike co-ownership would regard a turnover of
over a third a year as a "minimal" problem.  There's no getting around
the fact that losing a third of your bikes to theft every year is a
serious drawback.  And a voluntary, private sharing operation that
fully internalized member costs would probably require putting a
little more thought into the governance structure.

-- 
Kevin Carson
Mutualist Blog:  Free Market Anti-Capitalism
http://mutualist.blogspot.com
Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
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Anarchist Organization Theory Project
http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html