[p2p-research] The curse of the free rider

[Ryan]

  Sent to you by Ryan via Google Reader: The curse of the free rider via
Neighbourhoods by Kevin Harris on 11/25/09

Theft and vandalism continue to plague the Paris self-service bicycle
hire scheme, Vélib ('la ville est plus belle a velo').

'The Curse of the Free Rider is everywhere' wrote Joost Beunderman on
the 00 blog back in March, and in a comment I wondered if it's partly a
problem of scale. The scheme in Lyon apparently has been less
troublesome. (I also alluded to thefts from public libraries, which are
not insignificant but not so high as to endanger the model of a public
resource).

According to the Independent,

'vandalism and theft remain so rampant that Paris city authorities were
obliged yesterday to come to the aid of the private company which runs
the scheme. In less than two-and-a-half years, 8,000 bicycles have been
stolen and 18,000 have been damaged beyond repair. In other words, each
of the 21,000 Vélibs, which cost €610 (£550) each, have been replaced
at least once.'

So the business model changes slightly, but hopefully the idea is not
in danger. It would help if it could be demonstrated that the scheme
had contributed to reduced pollution engine and influenced health.

Via Regen and Renewal.


Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to Neighbourhoods using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
favorite sites
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/attachments/20091125/cec1c616/attachment.html>