program. While maintenance continues to be an issue, the FT attributed this to "the difficulty of keeping up with the results of heavy use" of the "popular service", in addition to willful damage or theft. JCDecaux officials told reporters that they underestimated the degree of potential losses from vandalism and theft, which had not significantly affected earlier JCDecaux-administered bike sharing programs in France, such as Vélo'v in Lyon. In 2009 and in 2012, repair and maintenance efforts in Paris were reportedly running at some 1,500 Vélib bicycles per day, focusing mainly on tire re-inflation. "The system is very costly in terms of implementation," the head of JCDecaux's board of directors said in 2012. "But since 2011 it has achieved budgetary balance, after losing money during the first three years." While JCDecaux does not disclose exact figures, according to Inter Press Service the system was expected to be profitable in 2012 as well. Vandalism and theft of Vélib' cycles received a wave of press coverage in 2009, with some stories citing JCDecaux staff as their only source. Some French officials and academics said that while real problems existed, such coverage exaggerated their scope, reflecting an effort by JCDecaux to strengthen its bargaining position in financial negotiations with Paris authorities. "Decaux is using media sensationalism to obtain more money from the city of Paris," said Denis Baupin, the city's former Deputy Mayor for Transportation. "It's in large part a PR issue," commented Luc Nadal of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. JCDecaux declined reporters' requests for comment. Sociologist Bruno Marzloff interpreted the unexpected vandalism rate as a symptom of revolt against French society by the suburban and urban poor, especially immigrant youth resentful of what they perceive as privileged bo-bos or "bourgeois-bohemians", the trend-conscious French urban middle class that are seen as the principal users of the Vélib' system. "One must relate this to other incivilities, and especially the burning of cars," Marzloff said in 2009. referring to the 2005 riots in the capital's working-class suburbs. He described Vélib' vandalism as in part "a form of rebellion" against social exclusion, an "outcry ... that means, 'We don't have the right to mobility like other people, to get to Paris it's a huge pain, we don't have cars, and when we do, it's too expensive and too far.' " The program's critics have cited the Vélib' program as a prime example of