Bad news for the many users of Vélib' in Paris. As the Syndicat Autolib' Velib' Métropole (SAVM) informed Agence France Presse (AFP), the subscription to the Vélib' package including electric bikes will soon increase. This announced increase of 1 euro per month should allow the company to face the energy crisis. With the rise in energy costs, running Velib' " costs 26% more today than in 2018," explained to AFP Sylvain Raifaud, president of the SAVM.
" The elected officials of the Syndicat Autolib' Velib' Métropole (SAVM) voted the second revision of the rates of the public shared bike service since its launch in 2018. Focusing on the V-Max subscription and the use of the electrically assisted Velib' (VAE), the revision of rates has the dual objective of maintaining the financial balance of this public service in the current context marked by inflation and ensuring better sharing of electrically assisted Velib', whose intensive use remains concentrated on a small number of subscribers ," explains the syndicate in a press release published on March 21.
The V-Max subscription will therefore increase from €8.30 to €9.30 per month. As a reminder, this subscription includes the all-inclusive Vélib', i.e. the mechanical bike and the electric bike. In addition, you will have to pay 1 € more for any additional journey by electric bike not included in the subscription. The same applies to the extra half-hour on a Vélib' bike if the trip is longer than 45 minutes.
On the other hand, subscribers benefiting from social rates will not be affected by this new increase. As for the V-Plus subscription rate, which is €3.10 and includes 30 minutes on a mechanical Vélib', it will not change.
So, when is this rate increase for V-Max and electric Vélib' planned? In the same press release, the union indicates that this increase will come into effect as of mid-May 2023.
This is not the first time that Vélib' rates have increased. In 2021, the SAVM had already announced an increase in the subscription fee linked to the electric bike, due to the maintenance costs caused by the overuse of these bikes, which are very popular with Parisians.
