The episode in detail
Vélib’ from the inside: 20,000 bikes and 400,000 subscribers
Stéphane Volant runs Smovengo, the company that has operated the Vélib’ service for the Paris metropolitan area since 2017. The figures speak for themselves: 20,500 mechanical and electric bikes, close to 400,000 subscribers, 100 million rides completed and 300 million kilometres covered. Behind these statistics, 500 staff work every day to make sure bikes are in the right place, at the right time, in good condition. Stéphane’s ambition: reach a million subscribers within ten years, with more stations and bikes so that Vélib’ becomes as reliable as the metro in the minds of bike commuters.
“Vélib’ is the finest shop window in the world for station-based shared bikes. We’re envied in every corner of the world.”
The electric bike broke through the ring-road barrier
Before the electric Vélib’ arrived, trips stayed confined within a single arrondissement, or from one suburban local council to its neighbour. The electric bike changed that. Users now cross the ring road without a second thought, linking the northern and southern suburbs, inner Paris and the neighbouring local councils. The electric bike also frees riders from the hills: climbing up to Montmartre or up the slopes of western Paris is no longer a feat reserved for keen athletes. Stéphane notes that this wider range has broadened the profile of users, well beyond the seasoned urban cyclist.
“Thanks to the electric bike, the ring road is no longer a barrier. Our users go further, faster.”
Circular economy: 2,300 wheels remanufactured every week
Smovengo does not stop at operating bikes. The company has built an in-house circular economy supply chain. Every week, 2,300 new wheels are made from buckled or faulty wheels. Over the previous summer, 550 new bikes were rebuilt from decommissioned bikes. Around thirty staff work exclusively on this refurbishment line. This capacity prevented a bike shortage when Chinese suppliers stopped delivering quickly enough. The savings made: around 950,000 euros a year in spare parts.
“We rebuilt 550 new bikes this summer from decommissioned bikes. Without that, we would have had to cut back the service.”
Recycled batteries: a zero-waste target
Vélib’ electric bikes use 10,000 batteries a year, of which 1,500 reach the end of their life. Smovengo is developing a full recycling chain with a clear target: zero batteries thrown away. The company is learning to repair its own faulty batteries and is building partnerships with French recycling players. The stakes go beyond ecological virtue alone: industrial independence is also at play. Depending on a single supplier in China for critical parts is a major operational risk. Recycling locally secures the service while cutting the carbon footprint of the supply chain.
“10,000 batteries a year, 1,500 of them out of service. Our target: 100% of batteries recycled, zero dumped in nature.”
An unapologetically multimodal boss
Stéphane Volant does not fit the mould of the single-issue bike advocate. Franco-Senegalese, he flies to Dakar, where he is overseeing the creation of Africa’s first TER (regional express train) line. He spent 20 years at SNCF. He owns a car to reach his village in Burgundy, 40 minutes from the nearest station. But when he is in Paris, it is Vélib’ and an electric scooter. His kit: gloves, a foldable helmet and Ludovic Dupré’s Code du cycliste (the cyclist’s code of the road), published by Dalloz. His creed: modes of transport are not rivals, they are complementary. The coexistence of bikes, trains, scooters and car-sharing is the realistic horizon for decarbonised mobility.
“I’m not an ayatollah of two-wheelers. I’m an ayatollah of modes of transport, as long as they’re gentle and shared.”
The day bike commuting changed face on rue de Rivoli
Stéphane’s best bike-commuting memory is on rue de Rivoli, one morning in pouring rain. At the red light near place de la Concorde, he realises he is the only man in the line. All the cyclists around him are women, in ordinary raincoats, on their way to work in the rain without having changed their outfit. Three years earlier, this scene would have been impossible: the street was full of cars, cyclists were mostly male and athletic, and rain alone was enough to empty the cycle tracks. For Stéphane, this moment proves that bike commuting has become a transport mode in its own right, independent of gender and weather.
