"The Lyon Metropolitan Area has given its approval": Saint-Genis-Laval defends its alternative to Vélo'v, criticized by Bruno Bernard
On Monday, the president of the Lyon Metropolitan Area criticized four municipalities in southwest Lyon that want to launch their own alternative to the Vélo'v service. Saint-Genis-Laval responded, defending its project and reiterating its agreement with the Metropolitan Area.
With the start of the electoral reserve period just a few weeks away, form sometimes tends to take precedence over substance in political exchanges. Those most active on social media will have noticed this yesterday on X, with the playground quarrels between the environmentalists, Jean-Michel Aulas, and his supporters .
Our readers will have noticed this in the statements of the Green president of the Lyon Metropolitan Area, Bruno Bernard, regarding the self-service electric bicycle service being implemented by Saint-Genis-Laval, Irigny, Charly, and Vernaison. The elected official, who presented Vélo'v's good figures, criticized the idea, believing that it was above all an " election campaign announcement ," and that such a system " would not be economically reliable without a contribution from the municipalities ."
Read also: Vélo'v in Lyon: 100,000 subscribers, new stations, but some questions
These statements have considerably irritated the town halls concerned, particularly the entourage of the mayor of Saint-Genis-Laval. " We have the agreement of Vice-President Fabien Bagnon, who is also elected to the municipal council and who voted for the resolution confirming the launch of the project ," they fume, while Bruno Bernard assured that the municipalities concerned " did not come to see (him) to discuss it ." However, at the beginning of July, the services of the Lyon Metropolis informed our editorial staff that the authority has been supporting the municipalities " for almost a year in their thinking ."
Also, Lyon Capitale wrote in its article of July 28 that the announcement by the municipalities had been made by a " simple press release ," yet a press conference attended by the mayors concerned was held in July, after the vote on deliberations in each council. " This is a project that dates back to 2023 (...) The four municipalities share the same observation: their territory is awaiting a solution. Mobility responsibility belongs to the Lyon Metropolis, which is therefore already deploying the Vélo'v system ," explains the City of Saint-Genis-Laval.
And to add: " However, this is non-existent in the towns of Charly, Irigny and Vernaison and only one station is in service in Saint-Genis-Laval with a promise of the arrival of a second in spring 2026. " The Metropolis of Lyon has indeed announced the installation of 33 new municipalities by March 2026, but they are mainly distributed in the municipalities of eastern Lyon, the big winners of the mandate of the ecologists in terms of mobility . It should be remembered, however, that the new station planned at the level of the metro B station was not provided for in the contract between the Metropolis and JCDecaux. It was subsequently negotiated, like the new electric bicycle service.
Charly, Iriginy, Vernaison, and Saint-Genis, like Écully elsewhere, consider themselves abandoned by the Vélo'v service. They have launched a call for expressions of interest to experiment, starting in January 2026 and for a period of one year, with a service complementary to Vélo'v. Bruno Bernard, for his part, regrets that the cities that consider themselves poorly off have not come to discuss directly with the Lyon Metropolis. " If these municipalities want to work in the interest of the residents, we sit around the table and see who is ready to finance what ," he said on Monday. In any case, this new offer should operate on a model identical to that of the self-service scooters in Lyon and Villeurbanne.
That is to say, without " any costs for the municipalities because it is the operator who must pay a fee to operate the service on the territory, " assures the City of Saint-Genis-Laval. This leads the Green president of the Lyon Metropolis to say that the model will not be " economically reliable ," the market for the four municipalities was much smaller than Lyon and Villeurbanne. The applications for the AMI launched will provide initial answers to these questions. The operator must be designated by October. The price, the size of the bicycle fleet, and the number of stations, virtual or physical, will only be known after this AMI.
Lyon Capitale
