vel'oh! Luxembourg City Gets a Bike Sharing System
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 10.23.08
A new bike sharing system, vel'oh!, has been put into action, this time in Luxembourg city, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Europe. For a city that is quite hilly and has just under 85.000 inhabitants, over 600 long-term subscriptions and 300 short-term ones are not bad going considering it only launched in march this year. If we compare vel’oh! to Barcelona’s Bicing service, we find that in Luxembourg non-residents can also rent the bikes, and which, unlike in other places, are available 24 hours, 7 days a week.
So how does vel’oh! work?
You can simply take a bike from one of the 25 stations (not very many but hopefully they expand soon) located in the center of the city. The stations are approximately never more than 400 meters away from each other and easily accessible. You can subscribe online for a yearly membership (15€) or only for 7 days (1€), using your credit card at the stations. After that, the first 30 minutes are free and every extra hour after that is 1€.
Luxembourg has chosen blue for the bicycles that have been designed for users over the age of 14. It comes with a wide mudguard to protect your trousers and a big shopping basket at the front. Bicycles are of course unisex, come with 3 gears and an adjustable saddle and permanently lit front and back lights. It would be quite interesting to see what the bike sharing systems in each city say about its inhabitants…
We like the way vel’oh! advertises cycling as being kind to your body and the planet. So if you’re every in Luxembourg city, use vel’oh! to get around. More information ::vel’oh!
More on TreeHugger:
Bike-Sharing Goes Global: 5 Programs You Should Know About
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Mexico City Bike Sharing
San Francisco Bike Sharing
Velib, Paris Bike Sharing
Brussels Bike Sharing (Flop)
Bicing, Barcelona Bike Sharing
Bicing Interview (Part 1)
Bicing Interview (Part 2)
Bicing Interview (Part 3)
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Fantastic idea, this should be piloted in a city in every country in Europe. Although I doubt very much that bikes could remain unvandalised for long in many British towns, here in placcid Brighton I think the scheme would be an enourmous success. There is few better ways to dramatically reduce carbon emissions (vehicles are responsible for a quarter of all emissions), unless a winged bike could be designed that took human pedalpower and converted it into 600mph velocity. Unlikely you say? Luxemburg'll do it!
Or you could buy your own bike with rapid-fire shiifters and thin road-tuned suspension with studded tires and save yourself the trouble (and the money) ;).