February 2009
OYBike Continues International Growth
French cities embrace bike rental concept
Following the success of the cycling scheme in Paris, the French cities of Nice and Vannes (Brittany) are now following suit and providing bike hire to residents and visitors alike. The difference this time is that the technology to run these schemes is being provided by a British company.
OYBike partnered with Veolia Transport, one of the world’s largest transport providers, in 2007. Following successful contract wins in Chicago and parts of the UK, that partnership has now paid off again. Local authorities in Nice and Vannes have today [9 February] announced that Veolia Transport, using OYBike technology, will run their schemes.
“This is an exciting vote of confidence for OYBike,” said OYBike Managing Director Bernie Hanning. “We are always looking to develop our technology following customer feedback and this latest design includes a reservation function and the ability for the software to interact with existing transport schemes (such as Oyster cards) to provide a fully integrated system. The winning of these two contracts shows that our technology really is meeting customer needs and cements our growing partnership with Veolia Transport.”
The Nice scheme is for 1,750 bikes across 175 stations, under a 15-year contract. The Vannes contract is for 180 bikes under an 8-year contract. Both contracts are for the design, build and operation of the automated cycle hire scheme and both are due to start this summer.
Ends
Notes for Editors
Veolia Transport, part of the Veolia Environnement group, currently operates services on behalf of 5,000 local, regional and national authorities in 27 countries around the globe. In 2007, it posted a revenue of €5.5 billion and carried over 2.7 billion passengers.
OYBike, the UK’s only rental bike company, operates street-based rental station networks that allow customers to hire bikes as required via mobile phone. Customers can pick up a bike from one rental station and return to another as convenient.
Veolia Environnement is a world leader in environmental services, quoted in Paris and New York, and posted revenues of €32,6 billion in 2007.
Veolia Transport employs almost 81,000 people and is headquartered in Paris.
OYBike currently runs bike rental networks in London, Surrey, Hampshire, Gloucestershire & Berkshire.