• The metropolis of Lyon will lend 10,000 bicycles to scholarship students and young people in professional integration.

  • The models, which will be refurbished, come from a Danish company, they were collected across Europe.

  • These are self-service bicycles arriving at the end of the cycle.

The "star of the moment"?

The bike.

Since the arrival of environmentalists at the helm of major cities in France, bicycle travel has accelerated sharply.

A trend ?

Awakening of consciousness?

Still, the practice is becoming more and more democratic.

In Lyon, the use of the bicycle is up 56% compared to 2019 even if the car still remains, by far, the most popular mode of transport.

Anxious to develop alternative forms of mobility to the personal car "devouring space and polluting", the metropolis of Lyon will deploy from November 8, a new free service called Freevelo'v.

10,000 bicycles will be loaned to scholarship students and young people in professional integration, aged 18 to 25.

Bikes that come from all over Europe.

Refurbished used bikes

The Lyon-based company Second Cycle was mandated to flush out “obsolete fleets” of self-service bicycles with the mission of “reconditioning” them.

Understand that it is a question of offering "a second youth" to models arriving at the end of their cycle.

“Initially, we thought we would turn to Vélo'V but they were not compatible because they were too heavy,” explains David Nogues, director of the start-up which has set its sights on a Danish company, Donkey Republic.

She then took charge of repatriating to her workshops, these bikes spotted in Sweden, Germany, Denmark, or even Spain.

“They already had a bell, a luggage rack at the front and back, a crutch, a lighting system,” enumerates William Isebe, president of Second Cycle.

Revolving loan

Tire changes, brakes and cables check… Each model has been completely reassembled in an insertion workshop.

Then repainted in green.

Initially, 350 models will be available before the service is gradually extended to reach 10,000.

“After registration, users will be assigned a bicycle by name.

They will have the possibility of benefiting from a loan of three months renewable up to 24 months ”, specifies Bruno Bernard the president EELV of the metropolis of Lyon promising to“ widen the public in the event of success ”.

“To our knowledge, we are the only ones in Europe to offer a free long-term loan service of this magnitude,” he adds.

The budget for the operation is 4.8 million euros.

1.8 million was provided by the regional branch of Ademe (agency for ecological transition), which benefited from a State fund released in response to the dispute between France and the European Commission on the issue of air quality.

Society

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Society

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  • Society

  • Lyon

  • Bike

  • Environment

  • Student

  • Mobility