Velib Help
 

Hello, leaving for Paris tomorrow. Bought weekly Velib on line and downloaded purchase but don't have a clue what I should do with this piece of paper. they did give me a pin use. do i need some kind of card or can i just input the pin? very confusing.
thanks very much for any help you can give me.

Anyone?

The Velib website has pretty detailed information on lots of things. http://en.velib.paris.fr/How-it-works

There will be instructions on the machine when you go to a Velib station, you have a card worth a certain amount of time, and your use will be accounted for by computer. You have to enter your ticket number and PIN into the Velib machine, with the bike number you want, for it to do proper accounting and release the bike you want.

Christina, thank you for your reply.

my confusion: i don't have a card. just a paper copy of the velib confirmation(purchased online) with a subscriber number. will i be able to punch in the subscriber number and pin without inserting a card. if i need a card do you know where we can get one. i have reread the website and still don't quite understand the process.

It's been about a year since we spent a week in Paris and made ample use of the Velib system, but we did not have a card. We just had numbers that we carried around with us and punched in as needed. It was much simpler than I'd expected. And we had so much fun on the bikes! It's a fabulous way to get around Paris. Enjoy!

No card is necessary once you have your subscriber code. On the Vélib machines, they ask for your personal PIN (that you have chosen) after you have identified yourself with the subscriber code.

I see that for 24 hours, the cost is 1.70€. What does that cover - is it just to be able to use bike? how do you pay for the extra time, after the first 30 minutes? Can you just keep changing bikes every 30 minutes or do you have to wait between uses?

You will have signed up for a 150€ guarantee on your payment card, either on site or in advance.

There is absolutely no reason to pay more than 1.70€ a day since you can turn in your bike and get a new one every 30 minutes. The Vélib stations are only 300 meters apart.

You have to wait 3-5 minutes between bike rentals, but it is not the end of the world. Note: if you get a bike and find out immediately that something is wrong with it (flat tire, slipped chain or anything else), if you put it back in a hitching post in the same station where you got it, there is no wait to take out another bike.

Thanks. Can you use the same card for 2 rentals on the same day? I am guessing that you can, that you just get another code and pin.

oh great, think it wil work for us. thank you again for all answers!

DebitNM, each rider needs their own user code and pin number. Before our trip in August, I purchased 4 one-week subscriptions for myself, my husband and our nieces, using the same AMEX card. As Kerouac said, you just enter the code and pin at the station and take your bike. If you have the bike longer than 30 minutes, your credit card is charged 1 euro for the next 30 minutes.

This was the second time we have used the bikes and we find them to be a great way to get around. The stations are plentiful, but we did run into a lot of problems finding open spaces to return the bikes in the 1er. There was a large station(25+ spaces) a few blocks from the Louvre, that was out of commission and that was probably the root of the problem. Hopefully that station is back up and running now.

Your subscription covers you for the period you have paid for, and throughout that period you use the same number you have been given, with your pin code, to sign in every time you want to take a bike. The first half hour is free, so if you want to ride around for longer, you just park it and get another (with another free half hour): think of it as a self-powered taxi system, rather than the equivalent of a car rental.

It would help you to get a map showing where the Velib stations are, so that you can plan your drop-off: most book and newspaper shops are likely to have a range - I have one by L'Indispensable that is a pocket-size booklet, for a few euros. When you return the bike, if there are no spaces free at the station, you can check on the sign-in post where there are spaces nearby, and get an extra fifteen minutes to get there.

One tip, when you return the bike, sign in, and get the printed receipt, just in case there's any issue about bills on your credit card (I've never had a problem, but you never know).

If there are no spaces free at the station, the kiosk will show you the nearest stations with spaces -- BUT this is not foolproof. We came to a full station, but the kiosk thought there was an empty space, even though the bike in that space appeared to be locked in correctly. The other potential issue is if you have multiple riders, and there are not enough spaces for all of you to return bikes, and you want to stay together.

The map with Velib stations is very handy in these situations. And try not to cut it too close on the time, in case you need to find another station. Or pay the 1€.