A Matte Black Double-bar Flying Pigeon in Riverside Park, NYC

A Double-bar Matte Black Flying Pigeon on Tenth Avenue

An Orange Flying Pigeon in the Subway.

A new Orange Double-bar Flying Pigeon on West Canal Street.

A mother and her Flying Pigeon in SoHo

French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality

By STEVEN ERLANGER and MAÏA DE LA BAUME Published: October 30, 2009
PARIS — Just as Le Corbusier’s white cruciform towers once excited visions of the industrial-age city of the future, so Vélib’, Paris’s bicycle rental system, inspired a new urban ethos for the era of climate change.

Samuel Bollendorff for The New York Times
Renters of Vélib' bicycles in Paris say it can be a challenge to find functioning ones among those that have been vandalized.


Samuel Bollendorff for The New York Times
In Paris 80 percent of Vélib' bicycles are stolen or damaged.

Residents here can rent a sturdy bicycle from hundreds of public stations and pedal to their destinations, an inexpensive, healthy and low-carbon alternative to hopping in a car or bus.
But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many others are being spirited away for urban joy rides, then ditched by roadsides, their wheels bent and tires stripped.
With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix them. And along with the dent in the city-subsidized budget has been a blow to the Parisian psyche.
“The symbol of a fixed-up, eco-friendly city has become a new source for criminality,” Le Monde mourned in an editorial over the summer. “The Vélib’ was aimed at civilizing city travel. It has increased incivilities.”
The heavy, sandy-bronze Vélib’ bicycles are seen as an accoutrement of the “bobos,” or “bourgeois-bohèmes,” the trendy urban middle class, and they stir resentment and covetousness. They are often being vandalized in a socially divided Paris by resentful, angry or anarchic youth, the police and sociologists say.
Bruno Marzloff, a sociologist who specializes in transportation, said, “One must relate this to other incivilities, and especially the burning of cars,” referring to gangs of immigrant youths burning cars during riots in the suburbs in 2005.
He said he believed there was social revolt behind Vélib’ vandalism, especially for suburban residents, many of them poor immigrants who feel excluded from the glamorous side of Paris.
“It is an outcry, a form of rebellion; this violence is not gratuitous,” Mr. Marzloff said. “There is an element of negligence that means, ‘We don’t have the right to mobility like other people, to get to Paris it’s a huge pain, we don’t have cars, and when we do, it’s too expensive and too far.’ “
Used mainly for commuting in the urban core of the city, the Vélib’ program is by many measures a success. After swiping a credit card for a deposit at an electronic docking station, a rider pays one euro per day, or 29 euros (about $43) for an annual pass, for unlimited access to the bikes for 30-minute periods that can be extended for a small fee.
Daily use averages 50,000 to 150,000 trips, depending on the season, and the bicycles have proved to be a hit with tourists, who help power the economy.
But the extra-solid construction and electronic docks mean the bikes, made in Hungary, are expensive, and not everyone shares the spirit of joint public property promoted by Paris’s Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë.
“We miscalculated the damage and the theft,” said Albert Asséraf, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux, the outdoor-advertising company that is a major financer and organizer of the project. “But we had no reference point in the world for this kind of initiative.”
At least 8,000 bikes have been stolen and 8,000 damaged so badly that they had to be replaced — nearly 80 percent of the initial stock, Mr. Asséraf said.
JCDecaux must repair some 1,500 bicycles a day. The company maintains 10 repair shops and a workshop on a boat that moves up and down the Seine.
JCDecaux reinforced the bicycles’ chains and baskets and added better theft protection, strengthening the mechanisms that attach them to the electronic parking docks, since an incompletely secured bike is much easier to steal. But the damage and theft continued.
“We made the bike stronger, ran ad campaigns against vandalism and tried to better inform people on the Web,” Mr. Asséraf said. But “the real solution is just individual respect.”
In 2008 , the number of infractions related to Vélib’ vandalism rose 54 percent, according to the Paris police.
“We found many stolen Vélib’s in Paris’s troubled neighborhoods,” said Marie Lajus, a spokeswoman for the police. “It’s not profit-making delinquency, but rather young boys, especially from the suburbs, consider the Vélib’ an object that has no value.”
Sometimes the bikes are also victims of good old adolescent anarchic fun. These attitudes are expressed by the “freeriders,” and a bicycle forum, where a mock poll asks riders whether the Vélib’ can do wheelies, go down stairs and make decent skid marks.
It is commonplace now to see the bikes at docking stations in Paris with flat tires, punctured wheels or missing baskets. Some Vélib’s have been found hanging from lampposts, dumped in the Seine, used on the streets of Bucharest or resting in shipping containers on their way to North Africa. Some are simply appropriated and repainted.
Finding a decent one is now something of an urban treasure hunt. Géraldine Bernard, 31, of Paris rides a Vélib’ to work every day but admits having difficulties lately finding functioning bikes.
“It’s a very clever initiative to improve people’s lives, but it’s not a complete success,” she said.
“For a regular user like me, it generates a lot of frustration,” she said. “It’s a reflection of the violence of our society and it’s outrageous: the Vélib’ is a public good but there is no civic feeling related to it.”
Still, with more than 63 million rentals since the program was begun in mid-2007, the Vélib’ is an established part of Parisian life, and the program has been extended to provide 4,000 Vélib’s in 29 towns on the city’s edges.
So despite the increasing costs, Paris and JCDecaux are pressing on. The company invested about $140 million to set up the system and provides a yearly fee of about $5.5 million to Paris, which also gets rental fees for the bikes. In return, the company’s 10-year contract allows it to put up 1,628 billboards that it can rent.
Although JCDecaux will not discuss money figures, the expected date for profitability has been set back. But the City of Paris has agreed to pay JCDecaux about $600 for each stolen or irreparably damaged bike if the number exceeds 4 percent of the fleet, which it clearly does.
In an unsuccessful effort to stop vandalism, Paris began an advertising campaign this summer. Posters showed a cartoon Vélib’ being roughed up by a thug. The caption read: “It’s easy to beat up a Vélib’, it can’t defend itself. Vélib’ belongs to you, protect it!”

A Flying Pigeon at Pier 61

Flying Pigeon on Church and Walker Streets: La Columbe

Men's Raspberry Flying Pigeon in SoHo, Lafayette & Prince Street

Men's Raspberry Flying Pigeon at the SoHo Playhouse, Vandam Street

A Men's Flying Pigeon in front of Madewell on Broadway & Broome.

A Raspberry Flying Pigeon in front of the new "Simple Juice Bar" at 203 Mott Street, Manhattan, NYC

A Raspberry Men's Single Bar Flying Pigeon in Central Park

A Raspberry Single Bar Flying Pigeon in front of BULO, Broadway and Walker, TriBeCa, New York City

A Raspberry Single Bar Flying Pigeon on West Houston Street facing East, New York City

A Raspberry Single Bar Flying Pigeon on West Houston Street facing West, New York City

Fwd: Matte Black Flying Pigeon

> From: Sebastian Lucrecio Date: July 30, 2009 11:03:14 PM EDT
> To: Victoria Alfred-Smythe Subject: Re: Matte Black Flying Pigeon
> Thanks! I'm loving my Pigeon!! Here's some pictures for your blog if you want. S.

Re: Why is your site always getting Spam?

Dear Joel,
Yes, it is because we set it up to allow people to add pictures if they wanted. Spam people have taken advantage of that. We try to delete it as fast as possible, but we might just have to turn off that option.
Cheers, Victoria

On Jul 31, 2009, at 3:15 AM, Joel Price me@joelprice.com> wrote:

> Sorry, but I just keep seeing spam as post on your blog all the time. Do you guys realize this?

A Black Men's Flying Pigeon on West Broadway

A Hot Pink Women's Flying Pigeon spray painted Black on Park Avenue South

L.F. on her Red Flying Pigeon on Canal Street

A Raspberry Single Bar Flying Pigeon in front of the Farley Post Office.

An Orange Single Bar Flying Pigeon on Bleecker Street.

A Silver Women's version of the Flying Pigeon Bicycle

An Orange Double Bar Flying Pigeon

A Black Double Bar Pigeon

Red Men's Flying Pigeon with baby geese on the Hudson and 59th Street.

A Matte Black Men's Flying Pigeon down by the Hudson River

A Red Flying Pigeon at lunch at Dorrian's.

A Raspberry Flying Pigeon at Pier 66a (aka the Frying Pan)

Raspberry Men's Flying Pigeon in front of Agnès b at 13 East 16th Street.

A Pink Flying Pigeon in Central Park

A Pink Flying Pigeon in front of the Bandshell, Central Park

A Pink Flying Pigeon on East 81st Street

A Pink Flying Pigeon behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Flying Pigeon in Central Park

Gisele Bundchen and a sister on the Hudson River Bike Path and Canal Street

A Flying Pigeon at Wooster Arts Space, 147 Wooster Street, SoHo.

A Silver Flying Pigeon at the Fireman's Memorial

A Flying Pigeon in front of "I Am The Best Artist" René from 1989. Wooster Street, SoHo, NYC

Another Silver Flying Pigeon at Golf at Chelsea Piers. NYC

A Silver Flying Pigeon at 27th and the Hudson River. NYC #3

A Silver Flying Pigeon on the Hudson River. #2.

A Silver Flying Pigeon on the West Side Highway #1

L.F. riding her Flying Pigeon on Canal Street. NYC

A girl on her Raspberry Men's Flying Pigeon on Canal Street...

A Flying Pigeon at the Frying Pan on the Hudson River

Laura's Raspberry Flying Pigeon on Delancy between Pitt and Ridge Streets

Grand Street

A Metallic Pink Flying Pigeon in front of Paul Smith: SoHo

At the New Julliard School. An Orange Flying Pigeon

A Flying Pigeon way west on Spring Street!

A Flying Pigeon Shadow

Another Orange Flying Pigeon in front of David Nolan on West 29th #527!!!

An Orange Men's Flying Pigeon in front of Craig van den Brulle's emporium.

Flying Pigeon on 14th Street. Meatpacking

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

4x4 views of an Orange Flying Pigeon in the Park on 14th Street, Manhattan

Orange Flying Pigeon on the 1 train, Manhattan

Paola on her new Pink Flying Pigeon on Canal Street.

Silver Woman's Flying Pigeon Serial number 38 on Bedford and North 6th.

The reverse view of a frozen Boat Pond. A black Flying Pigeon.

A black Men's Flying Pigeon in front of Alice in Wonderland....

A black Flying Pigeon in a frozen Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Black Flying Pigeon in front of L'Ulivo. 184 Spring St, Soho, New York City

A new Black Flying Pigeon in front of Frederick's Downtown.

A Black Single Bar Flying Pigeon in front of a now defunct bar on East 5th Street: East Village

A Hot Pink Dutch-style Flying Pigeon in the Round Park: 14th Street.

A Matte Black Single Bar at the Apple Store: Meatpacking.

A Matte Black Flying Pigeon in front of Hector's Cafe, Meatpacking, NYC.

Not a Vespa. A Flying Pigeon at Brass Monkey. 55 Little West 12th

A Yellow Flying Pigeon

Some Flying Pigeons outside of the New School on West 11th Street.

A Black Double Bar Flying Pigeon outside of Myers of Keswick!

Yellow and Raspberry Flying Pigeons and Sydney in Chelsea

A Yellow Flying Pigeon at the famous El Faro restaurant, West Village

A Detail of a Yellow Flying Pigeon in Riverside Park, NYC

A Black Double Bar Flying Pigeon at the TriBeCa Issey Miyaki

A Silver Flying Pigeon in Riverside Park, NYC

A Flying Pigeon in an Autumnal Riverside Park, NYC

A new Black Flying Pigeon in front of Butler Library, Columbia

Lindsey Nobel and her Black Flying Pigeon

Pink Flying Pigeon on Hudson Street

A Raspberry Men's Single Bar Flying Pigeon at 160 Broadway, New York

A brand new Yellow Men's Flying Pigeon at Christian Louboutin, West Village.

Another very happy customer on her Hot Pink Flying Pigeon Bicycle!

Jasmine on her new Hot Pink Flying Pigeon #3

Jasmine on her new Hot Pink Flying Pigeon #2

Jasmine on her new Hot Pink Flying Pigeon #1

The Duck Pond: The Catcher in the Rye: Flying Pigeon

Flying Pigeon: Bergdorf Goodman

A Flying Pigeon seen from the inside/out of Mars Bar. East Village

A black Doublebar Flying Pigeon in front of Veslka: East Village.

Congratulations!!, Bikes by George reopens on East 4th Street.

Flying Pigeon at passport control: The Hudson River Piers.

The same Flying Pigeon from the opposite view from Lincoln Center.

Flying Pigeon at the renovation of Lincoln Center.

A Flying Pigeon bright and early at the Frying Pan.

Flying Pigeon #FP0064 in front of "joe" on West 23rd. Chelsea!

A Flying Pigeon at The Pierre Hotel

A Green Flying Pigeon at the Central Park Zoo.

Another (different) Green Flying Pigeon on 64th & Fifth. Manhattan

A Green Flying Pigeon Bicycle in front of the Parks Department. Central Park. Manhattan

DeMarchelier : 86th off Park. : Green Flying Pigeon

A Green Flying Pigeon on C.P.W.

Flying Pigeons: Hung Kee: Chinatown: NYC

Sophie & David on their Flying Pigeons: East Village

Sari going very fast on her Flying Pigeon

Sari on her Flying Pigeon

Silver Flying pigeon: Jackson Square, Greenwich Village

Alissa on a double bar Silver Flying Pigeon

Two Flying Pigeons: East Village.

A very good violinist & a Flying Pigeon. Chelsea

Flying Pigeon at the famous Gem Spa. St. Marks.

On a Flying Pigeon: Hanai in front of Ms. Chin's in the East Village

At the Paris Commune. Flying Pigeon

Yves Jadot & Ms. Belgium.... Flying Pigeon

Mrs. Frost and Ms. Belgium resolved around a silver Women's Flying Pigeon.

Mrs. Frost and Ms. Belgium discuss Flying Pigeons.

Yves & Ms. Belgium. Flying Pigeon

Ms. Belgium on her silver Women's Flying Pigeon.

The newly crowned Ms. Belgium

Ms & Mr. Belgium with their Flying Pigeons.

The Flying Pigeon temporary work-shop in Chelsea.

An Orange Single-Bar Flying Pigeon (and a rug).

Not a Flying Pigeon

Sunset over a Black-Double bar Flying Pigeon.

A Flying Pigeon and a 1965 Ford Mustang

No Fair!!! R.I.P. Restaurant Florent.

Thank you Florent Morellet.

A Flying Pigeon in front of the Lit Rock Club

Lanie not on a Flying Pigeon.

A Flying Pigeon on West End Avenue

Happy 25th Birthday Café Luxembourg from Flying Pigeon Bicycles

A Double-Bar Black Flying Pigeon at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center.

A Black Double Bar Flying Pigeon at The TriBeCa Grand

Lisa on a Double Bar Flying Pigeon in the East Village

A Flying Pigeon at The Windsor Florist: 78th & Lexington

A Double & Single Bar Flying Pigeon in Chelsea

Flying Pigeon at Polka at St. Mark's Church on the Bowery

Moji on her Tangerine Flying Pigeon

A Black Flying Pigeon PA-02 2D at Bette on 23rd Street

A Flying Pigeon at Geometric Abstraction at Robert Miller.

Flying Pigeon at Walton Ford at Paul Kasmin.

Flying Pigeon @ Y3: Yohji Yamamoto

The view from Manhattan.

Blurry shot of Art Director Patrick Cupid and friends checking out Flying Pigeons

Mr. Cunningham of Manhattan's personal Flying Pigeon.

Two Flying Pigeons keeping it real on 7th Avenue.

A Red Flying Pigeon in Chelsea.

A Hot Pink Flying Pigeon in Chelsea

A Yellow Flying Pigeon in Chelsea

Empire State Building

(New) Jersey Flying Pigeon

Circle Line & Flying Pigeon

The Hudson River and a Silver Flying Pigeon

Sonia & Inu on a Flying Pigeon bike ride

A young lady on her Flying Pigeon at Freeman's.

Nicholas White out of his 41 hour elevator ride and onto his Flying Pigeon.

In the window of Jay Kos Men's Clothing, 475 Park Avenue at 57th Street.

Apple Store Meatpacking

Stella McCartney

Puma

In front of Alpana Bawa, 70 East 1st Street, Manhattan

In DUMBO serial # FP0046 nought

Lanie at Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Yellow

Flying Pigeon on Broome Street

SoHo Flying Pigeon

A Cucumber Green Flying Pigeon in SoHo.

Calypso Also

Back wheel detail

Back detail

Handlebar detail

Front detail

Tulips in Thompson Square Park

A Classic example of the Hand-built Schwinn Paramount

A Woman's Flying Pigeon at the recommended Bike Works: 106 Ridge Street

The Tri-angle at Kenmare & Lafayette & Cleveland Place

Lieutenant Petrosino Park in SoHo

Barker Black on Elizabeth Street

Calypso: Christine Celle on Lafayette & Broome

A Flying Pigeon at Bar Martignetti: 406 Broome Street & Cleveland.

A new Salmon-red Flying Pigeon Downtown.

Some Flying Pigeon demonstration models.

Kenmare Street

Very Famous Black Guy on a Flying Pigeon!

Welcome to the Williamsburg Bridge!

Outside Yeshiva University on Fifth Avenue & 13th Street.

Jay Kos Men's Clothiers: 475 Park Avenue, New York 10021 | 212.319.2770

Midtown Rush-hour Madness on Lexington & 60th Street

Virtue with a Yellow Men's Flying Pigeon in the East Village!

3 Flying Pigeons at Day

3 Flying Pigeons at Night

A lovely metallic pink Flying Pigeon outside Lolita in the Lower East Side

A silver single-bar Men's Flying Pigeon on 28th and 1st Avenue.

Flying Pigeons at Union Square

Two woman's Flying Pigeons in Manhattan.

Evelyn on a Yellow Men's Flying Pigeon near Union Square.

Karen Costa on a Pink women's Flying Pigeon

A pink Flying Pigeon in front of Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

A Pink Woman's Flying Pigeon on 6th Avenue & 13th Street.

Flying Pigeon detail.

A rare Flying Pigeon Advertisement!

Photo credit: Joker the Lurcher

Audrey Hepburn on her bike with her Doggie

A grouping of Flying Pigeons on 5th Street and Avenue A

Flying Pigeons at Condé Nast.

A metallic Pink Women's Flying Pigeon in Manhattan's mini-snowstorm.

Flying Pigeons.

A new Red Flying Pigeon being delivered on the Upper West Side.

A very nice Danish girl on her Silver Flying Pigeon in front of Minx clothing store on East 11th Street.

Single-bar & double-bar Flying Pigeons in front of East Village Cheese.

A Flying Pigeon outside MOTO at 349 Broadway & Division, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211

Youngster on her Pink Flying Pigeon in Williamsburg.

Pink Rose

In front of Housing Works Bookshop on Crosby Street.

A well-liked Manhattan biker, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Onassis) in Central Park.

On the Street.....Via Montenapoleone, Milano

K.A. McA's Flying Pigeon on 11th Street in the West Village!

A Flying Pigeon in the West Village

Cigars, Candy, Flying Pigeon? on Christopher Street.

On The Street | On a Roll - The New York Times > Fashion > 01.20.2008

Photo credit: Bill Cunningham for The New York Times

Making a fashion statement were a few women who ride in Midtown Manhattan, often seen locking their bikes outside Bergdorf’s, Saks and Barneys. A mix of vintage and new styles, including 1930's gauntlet gloves and a new Balenciaga handbag in the basket. By BILL CUNNINGHAM
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/18/fashion/0120-STREET_index.html