La Rochelle’s Urban Community (CDA) realised very early on that the bicycle was a full-fledged means of transport which meet its goals of improving the local quality of life.
n The CDA was one of the first urban communities to propose bike rental services:
• 1976: 'Yellow Bikes' went into service (a fleet of 350 bicycles for rent, with the first 2 hours free);
• 2005: Bike self-service rental experiment implemented (130 bikes available 24/7 at 13 stations).
These innovative ideas later inspired other conurbations.
With its own and others' experience under its belt, the CDA now plans to roll out new bike rental services:
• to meet people's new needs,
• to facilitate use,
• to optimise management,
• to prove once again the Urban Community’s ‘pioneering spirit’.
Goal: make cycling—as a means of transport in its own right or combined with transport by car, bus or train—the best way to travel short distances (i.e., one to three kilometres).
The new project provides for the development of what will be two distinct but complementary bike rental services:
1 – A new version bike self-service rental:
30 new stations (300 to 350 bikes) to open in September 2008.
Purpose: short-term rental and station to station travel.
The Pass’Partout 17 smartcard will make this bike self-service rental the first system in the world to interoperate seamlessly with the public transport network. Moreover, it will be the only one in France still operated by an urban authority.
FLEXBIKE, a company in Montpellier, was the supplier chosen for the new system, which will feature:
o a more secure and particularly sturdy bike attachment built into the aluminium handlebar-basket assembly.
o a computer system for more efficient station management. The status of each station can be checked in real time over the Internet to view the number of bikes currently available at each station and each bike's identification number. The computerised system can also lock in a bike at a given station, block the use of a specific smartcard and manage maintenance operations.
o a website including a rental module, where people without a Pass’Partout 17 card can sign up and reserve a bike using their credit card. These occasional renters will receive a code which they then use to pick up the bike at the station.
o a prototype access point, soon to be tested at several stations, where people without a Pass’Partout 17 card can rent a bike and pay by credit card on the spot.
The RTCR will continue to operate the service.
Stations will be built at transport hubs in the various districts within La Rochelle and in CDA member towns.
2 – A long-term rental service (planned for a second phase):
Purpose: offer bike rental on a long-term basis, by the month or year.
Target population: CDA residents, commuters, companies (through Company Transport Plans) and students.
To develop intermodal transport (bus + bike / car + bike / train + bike), a new ‘Bike-Park’ system is also being considered. The idea is to provide an enclosed, access-controlled bicycle parking area available only to holders of the Pass’Partout 17 card.
