ParisSnooze: Velib Bike Scheme Huge Success

Wow, this is not only intriguing as another way to see Paris, but inspiring as a spur to municipal action for North American cities bike lanes! THANK YOU!

Similar mass transit bike programs are being considered in Wash DC, Chicago and NYC

Correction - about not being good for going to museums - major gaffe as of course you'd return the bike before going in the museum. In fact if your rides were not more than 30 mins you'd only pay 1 euro for the whole day.

Other European towns have similar bike programs but none seems so ambitious as Paris.

In Germany DB (German railways) have rental bikes posted around towns, but they are rather pricey it seems.

In Florence last winter i stumbled on some free bikes, few of which seemed to be used or even useable

Copenhagen apparently has a similar scheme.

Amsterdam tried free bikes once but they disappeared right away it seems

But great for traveler in that many European cities seem destined to do these bike schemes that will give tourists a very different perspective of the city as opposed to metros, etc.

Vive Velib'

"Correction - about not being good for going to museums - major gaffe as of course you'd return the bike before going in the museum. In fact if your rides were not more than 30 mins you'd only pay 1 euro for the whole day ">


It was my understanding that the 1€ daily pass was good for 24 hours>

I believe the one euro is a day's subscription but if you go over 30 mins each ride you start to pay and pay more the longer you keep the bike.

I quote direct from a press release i got from the French Embassy:

"Another advantage is the program's moderate price. Riders' can chose from one of 3 subscription plans - one day, one week or one year (1 euro, 5 euros, 29 euros respectively)
For any given ride, the first half-hour is free, the second costs one euro, the third is two euros, and every subsequent half-hour 4 euros."

and it also says the program may bring into Paris coffers 30 million euros - they won't get that on one euro a day.

Me - i don't know as i haven't been back to Paris since the program started and the info i guess could be wrong.

Actually it seems the bikes do not come with locks and have to be locked into one of the many 'stations' that would be near every site - ultimate plans are for no station to be more than 1,000 feet from another.

So you'd have to lock them in the return rack everytime you wanted to park them and rarely would such rides cost much or anything at all.

Interesting item on French news tonight about fines for cyclists going through red lights, (90 euros) riding on sidewalks, etc., plus some unhappy cyclists complaining about how unfair it all was. (The item was in fact in response to a decision by an appeals court not to deduct points from a cyclist who had a drivers license, despite an earlier decision to do just this.)

Seems there are lots more cyclists on the streets, most of whom haven't learned the basic rule that if you are a moving vehicle you are bound by the rules of the road - e.g. no going through red lights, turning where it's forbidden, etc. So the police just wait by a red light until they start coming through.

Something to remember if you do manage to get a bicycle in Paris.

Yes the Embassy press release mentions that flics will be clamping down on bikers who don't follow the traffic rules like other vehicles. Staying off sidewalks is one such rule it says.

As for safety the release says that as more cyclists hit the streets, the accident rate goes down as motorists become more accustomed to bikes sharing the roads.

Indeed they point out Lyon's bike scheme where bike accidents have only risen 6% despite the 80% increase in numbers of bikes sharing the roads (but NOT sidewalks as Americans may want to to)

The bikes DO have a short term cable lock for people stopping to buy a baguette on their way somewhere else.

Actually, I have seen the locks used more by the Vélib technicians to move broken bikes out of the crowded stations until the bike repair truck comes to pick them up. So around certain bike stations, you will see a bike attached to a tree, another one to a lamp post and a 3rd one attached in a normal bike parking space for non-Vélib bikes.

The Vélib website tells me that I have made 74 trips this month so far, for a total of 7h50min and have paid a grand total of 0.00€ for usage, since I have an annual subscription.

In terms of usage, I paid 1€ two months ago because a trip lasted 31 minutes. Most of my trips last 2-5 minutes -- from the metro to my office, from home to the local cinema and from home to a more convenient metro line for a longer trip.

I can just see me on my bike going round and round the Arc de Triumph!!!! I'll stick to foot power, buses and metro thank you very much.

I see people on their bikes in that Paris traffic and I'm just in awe of them.