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Finding a working Vélib’: a dream come true soon?

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The Editor

© Jagoda Bartus / Le Bonbon

A storm is brewing at the helm of the organization responsible for our beloved Vélib': the new president is determined to wage war on unusable Vélibs. According to him, out of more than 20,000 bikes in circulation, only 30 to 40% are free from major defects. The result? 40,000 fewer subscribers in a year and Parisians on the edge of a nervous breakdown...

If you've been struggling for months, or even years, to find a Vélib' that isn't squeaky, has both brakes, and a saddle that doesn’t go haywire, know that you're not alone! Thankfully for us, the brand-new head of the network is coming in with big dreams. Could this be the end of the Parisians' battle against their bikes?


Unacceptable service quality

Freshly elected as the president of Agemob, Dan Lert (Green deputy at the Paris City Hall) dove right into the thick of it as soon as he arrived. For him, the verdict is clear: the contract with the operator Smovengo requires that 95% of the bikes be in good condition, while in reality, already 10% of the fleet is completely unusable. With such results, the new director views the situation as against the rights of Vélib’ users.

And unsurprisingly, Agemob is paying the price for this lack of service quality. For the past year, the network has…lost 25% of its subscribers, going from 530,000 to 391,000 users, and monthly trips have dropped by about 15%. Between broken bikes and the price increase in August 2025, some Parisians have ended up preferring self-service bikes (Dott, Lime, VOI), even though these services are more expensive.


The Biggest Upgrade!

The good news is that the new president wants to be strict and is pushing Smovengo to improve its quality control. A great idea in this project is to open repair workshops in the basements of the company’s major shareholder: the Indigo group. The goal is to speed up the repair of damaged bikes, as the network currently has only two workshops, located in Alfortville and Villeneuve-la-Garenne.

Another big project focuses on stations that are either too empty or too full based on the neighborhoods. This well-known headache for rushed users is greatly decreasing since 2021, dropping from 15% of the 1,500 stations to just 3% by February 2026. The goal for January 2027 is to... irc;me reaching the threshold of 2%. And while maintenance gets reorganized, Agemob is already looking into the future of the network after 2032. They’re thinking about all sorts of new bikes, equipped for example with saddlebags or child seats, just like their competitor Lime has already done. Stay tuned…