I would suggest the lack of bicycle paths as one of the main problems (although I do not know the status of bicycle paths in other European cities). When I was living in Brussels, I had a good mountainbike. I would not dare to use any other bike, as you often had to drive next & very close to the cars (and there are a lot of those!). Even when there are white-striped bicycle strips (I would not really call them paths), some car drivers seem to ignore those.

And maybe the heavily used public transport system might also be a reason. With buses, trams and metro and a lot of rain, who would like to (and dare to) drive a bike?

The photo shows a less than ideal day for cycling; I wonder if it would be a different story if the sun was shining...

Not to sound bad..but, this is quite old news. Denmark had the experiment 10-15 years ago which flopped :-)
The issue is that many things. Bicycles go out to remote areas (one-way traffic). The deposit of the coins into the bicycle is too small for making people put the bicycles in the designated areas (About $2 at that time). Bicycles tires were punctured or vandalized etc...

basically, for most such experiments you can simply look at Denmark and chances are that it has already been done there years ago - succesfull or not. The reaosn is that Denmark only have 5 million people so it has a small enough population for making tests of products and ideas.
For example, Denmark is the one and only country that has banned the "flavor enahncer" MSG (MonoSodium Glutamate) becuase it is simply a poison :-)
Also, Denmark gets 14% of its electricity from Wind turbines today.

Yes, local solutions ...

However, 'Best Practices' is also vital. The French method of providing the bikes free for the first 30 minutes with increasing charges thereafter is an innovative approach that other cities would do well to try (in some 'localized' form).

Also, the French commitment to numerous bikes and stations is key: they've attained the 'critical mass(es)' required.

[After all, how many people would use their autos if there weren't a large number of roads covering the city? Similarly, if there weren't sufficient numbers of auto 'service stations' for fuel, would the auto culture be what it is? I think not. Some of the best practices we need to copy ... for a cycling society ... are from the auto example.]]

There must be a large amount of bikes for starting the system. I think rain is no reason. But 20 mn is very short even compared with the Paris delay of 30 mn. Have a look to forum-velib if you want

If you think that Brussels is comparable to Paris or Antwerp when it comes to riding a bike, then you've never been on a bike in Brussels. It's suicide. Plain and simple. Drivers in Brussels are some of the most arrogant in the world. Red lights are ignored more often than heeded, cars frequently park in the middle of the road, double (and triple!) parking is the rule, not the exception. Not to mention the large amount of hills in Brussels, which you don't have in Antwerp.

I doubt that bikes will ever work in Brussels. Not until cars are banned from it, in any case. Also, the public transport system in Brussels is pretty good. If you're willing to overlook the fact that it's pretty expensive and managed by 4 different companies.

Of course the weather is a big reason. I live in a bicycle friendly student-city and today there where much less bikes on the road. BTW: it rained.

I actually rode a bike in Brussels for 3 days this summer. Also, had the pleasure of riding with the city's bike coordinator and main designer for the bicycle network.

Here are couple of thoughts:

First, Brussels appears to be taking great strides for cycling. Beth and I had a pleasant ride even when we weren't hanging with the local experts. Their local government has been quite direct about making cycling much safer and more practical in the city and it seems to be working.

Second, even the civil servants I rode with were not happy with the bike rental system. It sounded like the negotiations did not go so well and they were not happy several parts of the program.

Lastly, Brussels is going to host VeloCity 2009. So, there should be excelerated change there leading up to the big event. Plus, it will be a good chance to check out some of the really positive change that has been happening in that city for bikes.

You can see my Brussels traffic photos (and 6 other European cities) on my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/84977575@N00/collections/72157601555208567/

Unfortunately, my camera battery ran out in Brussels, so I couldn't get everything I wanted. Oh well, the chocolate and beer sure were good!

Thanks.
Greg

I lived in Brussels for nearly eight years. I also worked for a Dutch consulting company for a year, and my wife and I traveled extensively throughout Europe.

I can tell you that Belgian drivers are pretty bad, in part because there are so many non-Belgians there, and many don't understand basic concepts like Priorité a droit -- literally speaking, "right-of-way", and any driver who is coming towards you from a street to your right simply won't even look at you or slow down, because they know they have the right of way and any accident that may result will automatically be your fault.

Instead, they just turn in their national drivers licenses (if they have one) for local licenses, or just continue to drive on their national drivers licenses regardless of the law, and completely ignorant of the local traffic regulations. It doesn't help that most native Belgians don't learn to drive until they are adults if they ever learn to drive -- and they typically attend what amounts to adult remedial drivers education classes. Therefore, their driving skills are not particularly well developed.

But drivers in Naples are pretty bad, too. And not much better throughout what I saw of the Netherlands, including many trips to Amsterdam. Rome and Paris are worse, and even I didn't try to drive there.

Road quality is also a problem, too. From what I've seen, the Belgians are the world's worst (or world's best, depending on how you look at it) for screwing up or tearing up perfectly good roads in the name of "new construction" but leaving many roads in the worst repair I've ever seen.

There's never any money to repair roads but there's always plenty of money to build new ones -- or to tear down old ones that are in decent shape so that they can start the multi-decade "planification" process to build new ones.

There's certainly also a cultural component. Anything that the francophone communes support will necessarily be opposed by the flemish-speaking communes and vice-versa, for no other reason than the fact that the "enemy" supports the proposal and therefore they must oppose it.

You haven't seen political hatred like this, until you've been a flemish-speaking minister in a francophone commune and you send out an unofficial translation of an official document for the few thousand people in the commune who read and understad Flemish but not French -- and you permanently and totally end your political career in doing so.

You haven't seen political hatred like this, until you've been in a place where the flemish-speaking communes actively subsidize their citizens moving into francophone communes (and vice-versa), for the sole purpose of trying to take over communes that speak the other language.

Tourism is also a problem. Frankly speaking, outside of the Grande'Place, there's just not much for tourists to see in Brussels. Bruges, Liege, and plenty of other cities in Belgium are very scenic and there's a great deal for tourists there, but there's just not much for tourists in Brussels.

Well, if you're a fan of Art Nouveau architecture, then there's Hotel Horta (a.k.a., the Horta Museum), and a few other houses that were designed by him, his students, or his contemporaries, but not much else.

So, whereas in cities like Paris or Amsterdam where tourists could potentially be a big user of a bike sharing system, there's not so much a market for that in Brussels. Brussels is a capital city where business gets done in back alleys and you don't want to be a witness to business getting done, just like you don't want to be a witness to sausages being made. And there's not much else to see.

I would say that the biggest problem, as described, has to do with the fact that they clearly didn't roll out enough bikes, they didn't place them strategically (try putting at least a small bike stand at every major metro or bus stop), then you've got to deal with the road issues, the fact that tourists aren't likely to be able to make much use of them, and finally the fact that the most likely native users probably already have bikes or use the public transport system and have done so for many, many years.

Old habits are hard to break.

I respect the research you are doing, but I was in Frankfurt over Christmas, and if the weather there was similar to Brussels (it's 4 hours south) I wouldn't want to be on a bike at all in the Winter. Wet, slippery, icy, foggy at times, and cold! I'd love to read about the system in the warmer months.
For some warmer weather contrast...
Barcelona last week, with their "Bicing" system looks like a wonderful way to travel the city. Strategicly placed stations, plenty of bikes, and plenty of riders, and a very reasonable cost...24 euros a year is what I read. I think for a system like this there need to be lots of bikes...do that the stations don't run out. Riders need to count on their mode of transportation...if they don't have confidence that a bike will be where they need it, the system won't work. The weather, in Barcelona, as expected, was wonderful...in January. I'd ride a bike any day in Barcelona.

Has been around in Sweden for well over a year now. Pretty Eco friendly, and fun at the same time, my friends and i enjoy riding them in town alot.

I have been living in Brussels for the last 2 years, and have been biking to work almost every day. Before that, I lived in Berlin for 5 years and also biked. Simply put Berlin is light years ahead of Brussels due to the fact that they actually have a bicylce infrastructure, ie paths.

In Brussels, if you don't have to deal with the utter lack of real bicycle paths, you also have some of the worse roads I have seen in a Western European city along with endless cobblestone streets (I ride an extra 5 minutes each morning just to avoid them). These issues make it very difficult to ride here, and mostly everyone I know here agrees.

I tried the free bike system out of curiosity - I haven't had experince with the other systems in European cities, but there are a few clear issues:
- the system is really complicated to sign up for... I knw numerous people you just gave up. Don't know how it compares to other cities though
- the bikes are terrible. 3 speeds, no stowage space, and extremely heavy, especially the steering wheel which makes the bikes very difficult to control. I had trouble keeping the thing straight on a normal road, let alone with all the factors mentioned above... and I ride a bike every day
- finally, as everyone points out, there are not very well placed. They are only around the central ring of the city, so further out places, when you might really need a bike, are out of the question.

I used to cycle to work each day across Brussels, it was one of the most scary/stressful things I have ever done - and I'm a keen snowboarder and diver so accustomed to risky activities. It is a very hilly city and I was challenged on my MTB with suspension. It would be a very miserable experience on a 3 speed heavy city bike.

Drivers in Brussels seem to have absolutely no respect for cyclists. Bikes lanes are always blocked by cars parking with hazards - which seems to be ignored by the Police. Cars ignore areas marked for bikes. It is of no wonder to me that this scheme is not used as the roads are so dangerous it would be crazy to take advantage of the service. I would say every time I take a journey on my bike I am nearly knocked off by some lunatic on his phone speeding in his/her SUV.

Compare this to how bike friendly most of Flanders and the Netherlands are is is a different world!

They should improve the infrastructure for cyclists and clamp down on (and educate) anti-social drivers if things are to improve. Rant over, cheers for reading!

I can agree with comments made by others who have spent time in Brussels. I lived there for nearly eight years.

The standard of driving is awful. Cycling was just no an option for me. The drivers care very little for anyone except themselves. Being a pedestrian is a dangerous affair in Brussels... but being a cyclist!!! Forget it.

Also, in fairness to Brussels, the Public Transport system is pretty awesome and I never had a need or desire to have a car whilst living there. I could pretty much get to and from work in 20-30 minutes.

It's a shame it hasn't worked in Brussels, but hopefully Brussels will learn from its mistake and other cities looking to implement a similar system take note!

George!

i live in brussels too, and for fun wanted to try out the bike thing .. i'll tell you why nobody wants them lol.. you have to poney up 150 (or something like that) € just to take your back ..

besides,i don't see the point,brussels is too small for that..
and since its too small,you really don't want to ride around unknown areas .. before you know it you are in a bad spot..

i shouldn't say this but .. Come to belgium, but stay away from brussels... besides,there are no belgians left in brussels anyway . Go to bruges,antwerp,leuven, ghent and dinant .. thats it , go nowhere else (and for god's sake stay away from charleroi :p )

From the sounds of things they could have prevented this with a little research beforehand.

I could see where maybe not enough stations for people to ride the bicycles to, but not enough bicycles? The problem is that noone is using the bicycles that are already there.

um, yo i used the ones in france. they are expensive, you can't take the second to last bike on the rack (our 5 day pass could not release the last two bikes on any rack at any time - but if there were three, we could get at least one), all the bikes leave the center of town at night for the burbs (one way rush hour and bikes are trucked back late at night), all the bikes are in the financial district during the day (one way rush hour again).....but i was satisfied with the experience. half the fun was finding a rack, but being american, we had a GPS on our person at all times. oh yeah.

I have to laugh at this.

First, you say that the other tests were successful but have no proof. Bikes removed from the stand ARE NOT proof of success. There is this thing called economics. Yes it's a unfamiliar concept to the e-crowd, but the reality is that it exists and will not be denied.

Second, you then say after your extensive (3 days?) research that you found ONLY one rack full. Isn't that what you showed as success in Paris? I think it was.

Why are you trumpeting this plan when (like all government programs) it is inefficient and nothing but a way to force people to rely upon the government to provide for them? The bikes are trucked back? How is that helping your cause?

Also how does providing the bike change anything? People in Paris don't have bikes? Can they not afford them? (high taxation for stupid programs, anyone, government imposed work rules that destroy jobs, anyone?)

Quite frankly this is a non-solution to a non-existent problem. Government wasting the citizens money on a feel-good-touchy-feely "solution", so they can get some votes or get some huzzahs from the complainers. Unreal.

It's really sad when people are so desperate to force their views on people, they will show any program as a success without any proof or concern for the costs THAT OTHERS MUST BEAR.

Does anyone have any information on the maufactures of the docking station etc.?