Velib: Paris' bike-sharing program
 

Hi,

I'm visiting Paris for a few days during the last week of October and my friends and I are thinking of using Velib to go on our own 1-day bike tour of the city instead of walking. I just wanted to get some info., feedback, advice on using Velib.

Is it easy to use for tourists? Is it safe? Does it really make travelling and exploration around the city easier?

Thank you!

Is it easy to use for tourists?
- yes.
you rent it via velib.fr site and you get a code.
You enter the code at a velib station, select the bike (they are numbered) then releése it by putting your thumb on the release latch).

Is it safe?
- Jein.
are you used to biking ?
do you bike in cities ?
Cars do pay attention now, but you must be careful

Does it really make travelling and exploration around the city easier?
- yes. Definitely. I did it a full week-end and loved it. Was dead tired tough.

Important info :
- Do put your bikes back at stations every half hour max - if you don't you'll pay more per half hour that you keep it - can be fast 4 € per half hour per bike.
- don't know how many you are but it is not always easy to find several bikes at the same station.



maman (courtesy of my daughter).

biking in Paris is often IME no piece of cake - some novices have been seriously hurt or killed - may sound more dreamy than it is but if an experienced biker stressing safety go for it - to me Paris is eminently walkable with most sites in a fairly compact area. I enjoy walking in Paris and lot more than biking though I have not biked there in recent years with the new bike lanes but watching this is not like biking in Holland or Belgium with dedicated bike paths rare.

Be careful.

The bikes are a little heavy especially if you're used to a 10 speed or more. Like ParisWat said they are meant to be SHARED not parked while you go out to lunch. You should download both the Velib stations app and map of bike trails in Paris before you get here. The trails don't connect a lot of the time so you'll have to plan your route around that and learn the rules of the road too.

We see more and more Velib's locked up outside of cafes - I bet the people parking them won't be happy when they see their credit card bill after they get home. Very few bike riders have been killed using Velib's, though some have been injured. Traffic in Paris isn't the horror people make it out to be except in a few areas. Just pay attention and you'll be OK.

Do you bike regularly in a congested urban area? If not, don't think you should do it. It's safe like that kind of activity is safe in any big city. My nephew who bikes a lot in San Francisco just had a woman open a car door into him on the street, that can happen. Luckily, he wasn't hurt too bad.

I've never had a problem touring Paris without being on a bike, so I don't see how it could make it "easier", whatever that means. I would think it would make it harder as you have to be concerned about where you can ride, and where you leave the bike. The Paris' metro and bus system is extremely extensive with very close-together stops, it's not like in some cities where they are really far apart. And if you have to put it back in a rack every half hour, that's another thing to worry about.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20140108/woman-killed-in-vlib-collision>

OK only 8 people have been killed on Velib bikes but still be very careful - this is not a walk in the park many think. I can see going for a ride in the Bois de Boulogne or Bois de Vincennes, etc and of course you are also responsible for damage and theft are you not?

Don't mean to rain on your parade and maybe you are used to biking in congested urban areas - then fine go for it and you'll have fun - if not it may be a bit unnerving.

I use it a lot, but I'm used to riding my bike in traffic in London. You need your wits about you - or in other words, you need to have your eyes on the traffic, not on the sights.

But if you do use it, think of it not as a tour, but a self-powered taxi. You use it to get from A to B, park it and forget it. Get the next one when you're ready to move on.

Assuming you are a competent urban rider, the main point is Velibs are not meant for exploring/touring. It is more the Uber of bike riding. Mostly for Point to point short time periods. If you use one for many hours to ride around the city you will pay a fortune.

(And if you are NOT used to riding in NYC/London/San Francisco type traffic, don't even consider it)

Well I'm someone who bikes A LOT in Paris but I have my own bike. As mentioned the vélibs are meant for short duration commuting and the bikes are heavy and clunky. If you want to really tour the city for the day then I'd suggest renting a bike from a bike shop so you don't have to keep checking the bike back in to avoid fees. The fees graduate upwards and the second hour will cost more than the first hour etc. so if you don't check the bike in for 3 or 4 hours then you'll end up paying the same amount it would have cost you to rent a bike for a whole day from a bike store.

Biking in Paris is NOT difficult and in 6 years of biking in Paris and France I have never once been beeped at or given the finger. The very first time I ever rode a bike in Paris I rode right up the Champs Elysées at rush hour and then went for a few spins in the crazy traffic around the Arc de Triomphe. However, I was used to riding a bike in a city and I am a confident and careful rider. If you are not confident in traffic then you might think twice but there are places where you can cycle in minimal traffic and some bike lanes are separated from traffic.

Biking is a great way to tour Paris and if you are confident cycling in cities then I'm sure you'll love it.

Thank you for all your responses. I'm used to biking around a city I'm from Toronto. I'll see what the traffic and streets are like once I get there and decide then.

do folks in Paris on bikes wear helmets - last time I was there I saw none - do Velib' rentals provide helmets - did not last time I was there?

Curious if French or European bikers have finally got on the helmet habit - I've rarely seen any.

Velib doesn't distribute helmets PQ ...
People without helmets are now a minority.
I take my helmet on the thalys.
Well until my dog decided to eat it, now I've got to buy a new one.

If you take you dog on a bike does it wear a helmet too?

When I was leading bike trips thru Benelux long ago are American bikers were the only helmet-clad bikers around and often got kind of weird looks - so now most folks wear helmets in Belgium - amsterdam I note still has relatively few helmets it seems.

So if renting a Velib bike you will not have a helmet if that unnerves you.

Normally I don't disagree with pariswat but I'll have to say that the overwhelming majority of cyclists in Paris do not wear helmets.

My observation is that most Vélib riders do not wear helmets while most people riding their own bikes <b>do</b> wear helmets.

You could all be right.

My usual trip on Velib goes away from center of town towards suburbs. People I encounter on bikes are locals or own their own bikes. The vast majority has a helmet.
Also I travel early morning or late afternoon - early evening. Meeting commuters again.

Well I guess I'll have to disagree with kerouac too. No surprise that vélib users don't wear helmets as they don't come with the bikes. However, my observations are that the overwhelming majority of people riding their own bikes in Paris DO NOT wear helmets. Next time you two come to pub quiz we can spend 15 minutes on the terrace observing cycling behavior and we'll make a bet about the percentage of those who are wearing vs. not wearing a helmet if riding their own bikes (vélib users excluded). I'll wager any amount of my wife's money that the two of you will lose. ;)

I raise to the challenge, I pick up the gauntlet.
I'll be betting my wife's money too, or better said, my daughters' inheritance.
Have the glasses ready, the more I'll drink, the more helmets I'll see...

Anyway, don't hog your Velib. Take it back to the bike stand and park it there. If you have data on your phone, you can download the Velib app, which tells you where the bike stands are and how many bikes are in it.

Well, I watched the morning traffic out my window for a few minutes, and I will revise the number of helmet wearers on their own bikes down to about 50%. Vélib riders with helmets would be more like 5%.

An article in yesterday's paper mentioned the probability that all children under 12 would be required to wear helmets in Paris in the near future since the vast majority of accidents involving children also involve serious head injuries. Most of these do not occur in busy downtown traffic but on small city streets within a couple of blocks of home.

In any case, the minimum age for using a Vélib is 14. There is "P'tit Vélib" in certain areas during the summer season and they come with helmets. There are four different sizes for children from 2 to 8 years old. I guess that between ages 9 and 13 one should not ride a bike.

So I sat on the terrace of my pub last night from 6:45 to 7:00 and counted 24 people riding their own bikes past the pub. Only two of them were wearing helmets. Not a single vélib rider was wearing a helmet and they outnumber people with their own bikes by more than a 2 to 1 ratio.

We were sitting today at a busy intersection by the Grand Palais and counted the near misses by cars, motor bikes and bikes and it was a Sunday. I would stick to the bike paths only and be careful obeying the signs at crosswalks. I had the little green man but made no diff to the bike rider. We rode the metro twice today and the bus once. My feet are tired. Have fun, the trees are turning and it was a nice day.

FM, it seems that drinks will be on me.
Not a big problem though !

Please note that you need a credit card with a chip and pin code to check out a bike.

so why don't Europeans largely except those apparently in Belgium wear helmets? and actually IME disdain them - I have seen stats that helmets do not really provide much protection and may give the rider a false sense of security but not sure at all about that.

If biking in Paris I'd head again for the Bois de Boulogne or Bois de Vincennes where there are many miles of un-trafficked lanes.

To those who wonder how a Velib makes it easier to visit Paris.

I was in Abesse (rue Abesse) and ate there (abd choice of restaurant, but passons).

Went down rue des martyrs (who said it was a fab street ?) got on my Velib on Clichy, rode towards Moulin Rouge, took rue blanche (very nice), went pas Opera, then rue des Pyramides, went through Le Louvre (I love this roman arc de triomphe, crossed the seine on Pont Royal, then Bd Raspail, foudn myself at Sevres Babylone that for some reason I'd never seen, had a view on tour Montparnasse (ugly even in the night), found myself on Denfer Rochereau (I love the lion there), then along rue Coty (charming, with stairs to go on the roads on the right, got lost in neighbourhood of Montsouris and ended up at my hotel.
Took me about 45 min of cycling, probably less time than it would have taken me by metro.
And I saw a lot of nice places.

That is my way of doing some tourism in Paris ...

Ah, saw 15 people with a helmet.
Out of 100 cyclists.

had a view on tour Montparnasse (ugly even in the night)>

As they say the best view of Paris is from the top of the Tour Montparnasse because from there you cannot see the Tour Montparnasse!

I should add that I notice more people wear helmets when it is raining and a

Darn. Got cut off. As I was saying, I notice more people wear helmets at night and also when it is raining (as roads are wet) but even at these times less than 50% of cylists are wearing helmets.

flpab - I imagine most of what you observed as "close calls" were not in fact close calls but were actually just normal cycling conditions. It is not uncommon, especially during rush hour periods or at heavily trafficked places such as the Champs Elysées or Place de la Concorde, for cyclists and cars/trucks/buses/motorcycles to be riding within inches of each other. Did you see any actual accidents? If not then I believe what you saw was nothing out of the ordinary. Also, the majority of bike paths are not out of traffic but are in fact just painted lanes on the side of the road or shared with bus lanes so for the vast majority of bikes lanes in Paris you would in fact be sharing the road with some form of traffic.

Especially on weekends and holidays, I see one or more parents riding in traffic with kids as young as 6 years old trailing along behind them on their own bikes - and the kids always wear helmets, but the parents usually don't. They are usually headed to the quais, but I guess it's easier to ride than push the bikes. If little kids can manage this, most adults should be able to as well.

Americans Beware! Velib IS A RIP OFF. Stations will be full making it impossible to return your bikes. Agents will instruct you to lock the bikes and send the keys, but then will claim to be 'unable to find them' and charge you for the bikes that you have already returned per their instructions! Way more hassle and irritation than it is worth.

REM
What you talking about ? There are no keys for Velibs.

Actually there is a key with a cable lock for stopping somewhere temporarily, but I can't imagine any official employee suggesting to do that since every Vélib station has a screen where you can find the nearest station with available hitching posts.

Cables are cut by thieves every day, so there would be a 1% chance of finding a bike a couple of days later if you actually mail the key somewhere.

If you find a velib station that's full, you can sign in to find out where nearby has spaces, and you're given an extra free 15 minutes to get there. Yes it can be a nuisance if you're taken way away from where you want to go, but it's not universal, just localised to particular areas at particular times.