Vandalism remains an issue for vel'OH! bikes

The topic crops up again and again on social media, with videos circulating of safety deficiencies in the bicycles for rent around Luxembourg's capital.

In one video, a man complains that he regularly uses the vel'OH service, but has come across no fewer than three broken bikes. In the clip, he is sitting on a bike with no brakes, which is extremely dangerous.

Defective brakes, broken tyres or blocked docking stations were all very common, he says.

It is not the first time that the service has come under fire. In 2022, RTL journalist Lynn Chruchten interviewed the council and the bike operator JCDecaux over the fact that bikes were regularly being left on the pavements or broken by vandals.

At the time, the official response was that the authorities would work on improving the service. And despite the criticisms, the rented bikes remain popular and are in constant use.

More users, more subscribers

As of 31 May 2025 there were 1,157 vel’OH! bikes in use around the city. There are 32,764 subscribers, 30,305 of whom have a long-term subscription and 2,459 with a short-term one. From June 2024 to May 2025 there were over 1,67 million journeys conducted with the bicycles, or an average of 140,000 per month.

JCDecaux calls it a "constantly growing attendance since the implementation of the new system".

The blue bikes have been around in Luxembourg City since 2008. At first there were not very many, but in 2018 the council signed a new contract with JCDecaux to modernise the system and replace all the bikes with electric models.

© RTL Archiv

At 140,000 trips per month for over 1,000 bikes, it appears normal to experience wear and tear. But vandalism remains a big problem, three years on.

The bikes are often misused. "People sit in the baskets, or they damage the bicycles and cause them to get stuck at docking stations," explains JCDecaux. This leads to situations seen on social media, as users criticise or make fun of the service.

So not every defect is caused by a technical error - instead they are frequently caused by people mistreating the bikes.

Council and operator plan to counter vandalism

The Luxembourg City municipal council says it is aware of the issues and is in constant communication with the operator, "to remind it of contractual obligations and demand timely solutions to problems."

The maintenance teams on the ground and in the operator's workshops have been reinforced to respond to issues and maintain service quality. Regular checks and repairs are carried out daily. Bikes simply left lying around on pavements, or in parks, are collected, repaired or replaced and then returned to docking stations.

Normal wear and tear would be one thing, but vandalism is a real problem: "Vandalism on public roads is a phenomenon encountered in all major European cities, and also affects Luxembourg," said JCDecaux.

As a result, the operator is working on a more robust docking system to reduce this problem in the future.