There are 2 hills, the rest is flat. And one of them is not really populated. Having trucks move bikes between station is pretty standard to ensure correct distribution of bikes, hills notwithstanding.
Lyon was actually one of if not the first city to offer such service, in 2007. It was financed by an advertising company in exchange for the concession for managing public displays.
There's a popular French series with the exact same pitch, HPI. I don't know which one is the rip-off though.