Overview

• Paris’s Vélib’ bike-share is losing some 640 bikes weekly, a threefold increase over the usual 230 disappearances.
• The system’s roughly 20,000 bikes cover 1,440 stations and serve nearly half a million subscribers across Île-de-France, amplifying the impact of losses.
• Thieves shake bikes until they unclip and carry them off, and without GPS chips stolen units cannot be traced.
• A 16% surge in usage in May has accelerated wear and created maintenance backlogs, leaving many stations empty or stocked with unusable machines.
• Agemob has urged municipalities, police and riders to intensify station surveillance and report missing or abandoned bikes.