JCDecaux’s self-service bicycles surpass 700,000 long-term subscribers worldwide

JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide and number one in self-service bicycle hire, today announces that it has surpassed the 700,000 mark for global long-term subscribers of its bike-sharing schemes (+4% vs 2015), a record high following the launch of the first self-service bike scheme in Vienna in 2003.
 
With more than 13 years of international experience and having clocked up 557 million hires to date, JCDecaux has 52,000 bikes in 4,300 stations located in 70 cities throughout the world. In France, JCDecaux manages bike-sharing schemes in 52 cities and has achieved a record number of long-term subscribers, at 441,000 (+6% vs 2015), thereby demonstrating the popularity of the service with the public.
 
This success, which, among other recognitions, resulted in Vélib’ being named winner of the Financial Times and Citi international “Ingenuity Award” (infrastructure category), is based on a financing model funded by advertising on street furniture.  The model has a twofold advantage, offering a sustainable solution that meets the budget requirements of local authorities and that also makes the service more affordable with, for example, an annual subscription priced at €29 for 39.3M rentals in Paris in 2015 vs €100 in London for 9.8M rentals and €142 in New York for 10M rentals. The other key to the success of JCDecaux’s bike-sharing schemes is the range of short-term (day) and long-term (month or year) subscription options, offering users unique flexibility, whether they are residents, visitors to a city or tourists.
 
As a pioneer in eco-friendly mobility, JCDecaux has developed and advanced its bike-sharing schemes to reach record levels of hires and subscribers, while building positive relationships with users. JCDecaux is also pleased to announce that on 13 October 2016, the Customer Relations Department of Cyclocity – JCDecaux’s bicycle hire service – won the Customer Service of the Year award for 2017* in the “Individual Transport” category for the second consecutive year, a testament to a highly efficient organisation and the excellence of its services.
 
Offering the perfect complement to public transport, JCDecaux’s self-service bicycle schemes have been shown to improve the quality of city life and to optimise travel options, in line with current environmental and public health targets. Their success is also down to the decision early in the scheme to generalise the service and to facilitate easy access in order to increase bicycle use in cities. This includes attractive pricing, the option to pay by credit card, link ups with other public transport cards, online payment and instructions in foreign languages on the docking stations. This success is also the result of delivering city-wide networks, reliable equipment, high quality maintenance and an effective system to regulate the distribution of bikes, as well as a high standard of customer service, which has carried the “NF Service” customer relations certificate since July 2014.
 
The growing number of subscribers in France and all over the world symbolises the development and advancement of urban mobility in the 21st century: environmentally-friendly, shared usage, a limited footprint, beneficial to personal health and affordability. Building on this success, JCDecaux- which strives to continuously anticipate the needs of city authorities and citizens- has continued to innovate, and in April 2015 launched self-service electric bicycles with removable batteries.
 
*Inference Operations study – Viséo Cl – May to July 2016 – More info at www.escda.fr.
 
Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “We are very proud of the success of our self-service bicycles in France and worldwide, with long-term subscriber numbers growing consistently over the last three years. The increasing popularity with users of this convivial and environmentally-friendly system demonstrates the quality of the services provided by JCDecaux’s teams, who provide rigorous maintenance and optimised regulation of all the systems on a daily basis to meet the needs of short-term and long-term subscribers alike. By devising a new way of getting around that complements all other forms of transport, we are responding to the needs of local authorities for sustainable solutions. Our position as the number one provider of self-service bicycle hire systems and our expertise is driving us on to develop the next generation of bicycle hire, with energy and creativity, always with the satisfaction of the end user at the front of our minds.“