Romain Rouillard 6:09 p.m., June 03, 2022

Guest of "France moves" this Friday on Europe 1, Stéphane Volant, the president of Smovengo, operator of Vélib in the Paris region, spoke of the sharp increase in the number of famous self-service bicycles in Paris and the inner suburbs.

A success that comes with many challenges.

"With Smovengo, it's Paris and the whole of the metropolis that moves and breathes", proclaims Stéphane Volant, president of Smovengo in the program "La France moves" on Europe 1. The operator, which manages the fleet of Vélib in Paris and the inner suburbs, is facing an exponential increase in the use of self-service bicycles.

A 27% increase since the beginning of the year according to Stéphane Volant.

What display a resplendent health.

"The company is surfing on a brilliant intuition of a few Parisian and metropolitan elected officials who wanted to bet on cycling", greets the boss of Smovengo.

But the company must now face the other side of the coin.

It must now meet the many challenges imposed by this success and above all calm the anger of some Parisians about the poor condition of part of the Vélib fleet.

Multiply the number of bikes and stations by 2, 3 or 4 

Unavailable, poorly maintained, non-functional, Smovengo bikes are not always popular with users.

A paradox in view of the success encountered by the company.

For Stéphane Volant, it is precisely this rush to the Vélib that causes these many inconveniences.

“We have 20,000 bicycles in metropolitan France and Paris and we have 375,000 subscribers. So it is clear that if even 10% of these 375,000 subscribers request a bicycle in the morning between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., obviously they will not won't have it," he admits.

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To meet this demand, Stéphane Volant sees only one solution.

"The challenge before us is to multiply the number of bikes and stations by 2, by 3, by 4", he develops.

The idea of ​​extending the scope covered by Vélib was also mentioned.

"We must not think only of the hearts of the city but also think of territories which are very, very far from these soft and shared mobility. We must bring this mobility closer to where people live", he concludes.