Commenting on the decision, Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-Chief Executive of JCDecaux, said: “40 years ago to the day, Lyon was the first city, through its mayor Louis Pradel, to believe in Jean-Claude Decaux, when taking a bet on street furniture financed by advertising. Today, Greater Lyon is a pioneer in its choice of the design of street furniture and in its initiative to make available to the residents and tourists of Greater Lyon 2 to 4,000 bicycles to facilitate and support “soft traffic” in the city centre. With this contract, JCDecaux becomes the world number one in self-service bicycles. Thus JCDecaux is consolidating its position as world leader in street furniture. All the teams of the Group, and in particular the 300 employees of the Regional Department of Rhône-Alps, are proud of the renewed loyalty and confidence of the City Authority of Lyon and of assisting in the development of these new services to users.”
JCDecaux manages the street furniture contracts for 1,400 cities or conurbations in 37 countries. Its sales in this activity amounted 430.8 million euros in the first half for 2004.