 Its name is a portmanteau of French "vélo" ("bike") and English "love".The first bicycle sharing system to open in France, after the pioneering 1974 scheme in La Rochelle, its thundering success inspired similar systems in major French and European cities, including Paris' Velib' in 2007.With the success of these two high profile smart bicycle sharing systems a new paradigm of government supporting bike sharing as a part of a public transportation network emerged.