It was introduced to roaring success — hailed by environmentalists and cycling enthusiasts as the ideal solution to congestion on the streets. But life is now proving brutish and short for the Vélib, the self-service bicycle that the city of Paris introduced 18 months ago.

So far, 7,800 of the “damage-resistant” grey bicyclettes — which can be hired for up to €1 (87 pence) per half-hour — have simply vanished, while 11,600 have been vandalised, their operating company said yesterday.

Hung from trees, thrown in the river or shipped to foreign parts, the Vélib bikes have met much more aggressive treatment than expected when the first of the 20,000 of them were docked at their 1,250 stations in July 2007. The damage has forced JCDecaux, the advertising company that supplies them to the city, to replace most of the original bicycles at a cost of more than €400 each.

“We underestimated the degree of damage that they would suffer,” said Albert Asseraf, the marketing director of JCDecaux. The scale of the Paris scheme had consequences that his firm had not encountered with its operation in Lyons, the second-biggest in the world but with still only one fifth of the Paris bikes, he said. Many were being stolen because tourists and first-time users were not docking them carefully when they returned them to their computerised stations, Mr Asseraf said. Some have turned up in Eastern Europe and Africa, according to the media.

The cycles — the name is a contraction of vélo (cycle) and liberté — have also fallen victim to a new craze called “Vélib extreme”. Young riders use them for daredevil stunts that they film and post on the internet set to rock music. They include fast descents down the long stairs of the Montmartre hill, and jumps. The most common vandalism reported by the 500 repair personnel is tyre-slashing.

So far five people have been killed on the bikes, which in the depth of winter are still being widely used. Since last month, the high-tech scheme, launched by Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist Mayor of Paris, has started opening in 29 surrounding boroughs. It is also being copied by many overseas cities, including London, San Francisco and Singapore.

Under pressure from JCDecaux, the city has recently agreed to pay for a proportion of the destroyed and stolen machines. JCDecaux had complained that the city was making all the money from the rentals — €20 million in the first year — while the operating firm was bearing all the costs.

Last week the city council approved the outline of Mr Delanoë’s latest self-service transport scheme: Autolibs — 2,000 clean-energy cars that will be stationed at bays around the city from autumn next year.

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