Spontaneous Publibike Ride

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We are all familiar with it. We get a phone call. "I will be in Nyon in 20 minutes, do you want to meet". We think, duck, that’s short notice. Do we take the bike? No, because we don’t want to leave it unattended. Do we take the car? No, because then we’d pay for the parking. Do we walk? No, because the meeting is in ten minutes and the walk will take 30 minutes. do we run? No, because then we’ll be hot and sweaty and clothes might smell.

Enter Publibike. It’s fast, practical, and on demand, unlike buses. This means that if we’re asked if we can be somewhere within 20 minutes we can. It was raining at the time and the roads were wet. I wore my cycling helmet and my cycling rain proof layer and set off. 6-7 minutes later I was in Nyon with the bike parked, and slightly early.

That’s the beauty of ride sharing. Parking the car could have been six francs or more, and then you have the cost of petrol and traffic. By taking a bike share bike I was where I needed to be within minutes.

That’s why car culture is so paradoxical. We think that we need to have cars to catch trains, and that we need buses, but even on a rainy day I was able to get from a village to Nyon within minutes by bike.

For me it’s absurd that they don’t have bike sharing in every single village. If Tranchepied, Cheserex, Gingins and Trelex had bike sharing options then people could take bike share bikes rather than buses. In theory the ride doesn’t need to be between Nyon and the villages. It could be along the foot of the Jura, from La Rippe to the Petit Train rouge, and then down to Nyon.

From 2030 onwards they want to expand the A1 motorway but I see this as a mistake. For me they should expand the train lines, bus services and bike sharing.

Divonne-Les-Bains has bike sharing but it’s different to Nyon, so you can’t ride share from Divonne to Nyon and vice versa. If you could then it might cut out a lot of car journeys.

Two Types of Bike Use

For me there are two types of bike use. The first is your private road, gravel, mountain bike or electric bike that you use for fitness, pleasure and more. You set off from home, have a ride, and a coffee and then go home and lock up your bike in a safe environment.

The second type of bike use is your shopping trip, your commute to the train station or your quick trip to meet people to eat in a restaurant. In this use case you take a bike share bike because you only need it for the time sensitive part of the journey. It’s quick, convenient, doesn’t get your trousers dirty, and doesn’t rip up your trousers. It can also be locked, and left without worrying about theft. This is quick, convenient and counts towards your daily calories burned, if you wear an Apple watch.

Homeward Bound

Although the outward journey requires you to be fast and efficient, the homeward leg can be slower. I walked home, taking a slightly longer route than I needed to to keep the step count up. These bikes are cheap and worthwhile when you ride them if you’re time crunched, but expensive when you have the time to walk for half an hour. I still desire going for a walk from my village to Coppet or somewhere similar, and then ride home on a bike.

And Finally

Once Publibike is set up and working it is quick and easy to use. You can free a bike within seconds, do the required journey and then park it at the right place and get on with your day. It’s the convenience of a bike, without worrying about theft.