[docdeek]

I live in Lyon and I use (and love) the Velov system of docked bikes here. I was interested when the Gobee bikes arrived not too long ago and spotted a few around the city, but the convenience and numerical advantage of the Velov bikes meant I didn’t give them a try.

Velov works really well but there is a trade off. The local government gives away the rights to all the external advertising in the city to the company behind the Velov bikes. The company provides the bikes and, in turn, gets to on sell the advertising space on bus shelters, outdoor signs, pretty much everywhere in the city it seems. A little bit of competition would not be a bad thing, I think, though it would be hard for any competitor to overcome the advantages that a big advertising company like JCD has in terms of their revenues from the signage.