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When Paris launched its own vélo en libre-service (VLS) network on July 15, 2007, under then Paris mayor and French Socialist Party member Bertrand Delanoë, it was following in the footsteps of other French cities.

Vélo'v was launched in 2005 in Lyon, while La Rochelle had a network as early as the 1970’s. Now, the Parisian Velib’ service has become the twelfth largest public bike network in the world.

But although the service remains cheap for users, the communal cost is high, up to twice what was anticipated.

Each bicycle costs the public €4000, according to economist Frédéric Héran, author of ‘Le Retour de la bicyclette’.

Theft and vandalism are major problems. And some stations have more bikes than others at any given time, meaning that bikes have to be constantly redistributed.

Advertising giant JCDecaux held the contract for operating and maintaining the bikes for ten years. In April it was announced that Smoovengo would take over the contract.