I just spent the last two weeks in Paris, one of my favorite cities! While I enjoyed spending most of my traveling on foot or in the train, I quickly became very jealous of Paris's fantastic bike share program, Vélib. The three-year-old Vélib gets its name from two words: vélo (bicycle) and libre (free), and from what we saw it's a huge success!
Unfortunately the only way to use the Vélib is either via a Passe Navigo (a rechargable card for Metro card for locals) or a European credit card, which is not the same as a US card. So while I was not able to use the bikes, I did see them all over the city.
The way the program works is stations are located all over the city and users can either rent the bikes on a daily (€1), weekly (€5) or yearly basis (€29). Bikes can be taken out one at a time, with the first 30 minutes of use for free, and every 30-minutes after that is charged in €1-4 increments. With stations located every 300 meters and thousands of bicycles available to use, it should never be longer than a few blocks to find a bike for rent.
While initially some news outlets were reporting complaints of widespread vandalism, theft and overall abuse of the bicycles, from what we saw and the local residents we spoke with, the program is now a huge success. There were tons of these bikes being ridden on the streets all over the city, actually more of the Vélib bikes than personal bikes were used. The pedestrians and cars seemed to be mindful of the cyclists and there were plenty of bikes lanes on the roads to further ease the ride. The bikes are built like city or commuter bikes and while heavy, they are very durable. Supposedly every night bikes are checked on to be repaired, replaced or maintained in any other way including filling the tires with air.
While smaller bike share programs have started popping up around the US, I hope that systems more similar to the Vélib begin. Walking and taking public transportation are great ways to travel green, but a bike share program is a nice alternative to ease tired feet and quickly get around a city!
Learn more here (in French only): Vélib.
Related:
• Free Bike Rentals in NYC
• DC to Launch Self-Service Public Bike Rental Program
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Minneapolis just launched a similar larger-scale bike share program--http://www.niceridemn.org/. Suddenly they're everywhere!
I have recently returned from a trip to Montreal and they have a very similar program called BIXI. It appears to be very successful. One evening I happened to see the bicycle traffic hour (around 5 p.m.) and noticed that most of the riders were using the public BIXI bikes.
I saw these in Seville when we were there in May... very impressive and something to learn from!
too cool!
I lived in Paris last year, and these are very cool and useful. Paris traffic could be kind of scary though, I stuck to side streets and along the canals. DC is getting a bikesharing program soon, I'm psyched!
my wife and i were in paris shortly after they rolled out the velib and we agreed that it was great idea but not one that would work in a lot of american cities.
we live in boston which is currently working toward becoming more bike friendly. this means creating dedicated bike lanes on streets that are already narrower than most streets in other cities, on roads that punish bikes (i wrecks two rims in as many weeks on boston streets when we first moved here), surrounded by drivers who do not share the road with each other, much less bikes.
what american cities need to do if they're serious about bike programs of any kind is visit amsterdam. dedicated bike lanes and streets are clearly marked, bikes get their own traffic signals, and in busier areas the bike lanes are protected from car traffic by concrete curbs and sidewalks. also, go to any commuter rail or subway lot in northern europe and marvel at hundreds and hundreds of bikes parked in their own lots - not a car lot in site. when priority is given to bikes the message is clear: leave your car at home.
This is just so amazing!
The Velib system is very good. I don't use it that often and prefer to take the metro or walk unless I miss something. Velib is actually a program between advertiser JC Decaux and the city of Paris. The company pays for the bikes and the city grants exclusive access to its network of billboards. Unlike other sponsored bike programs, you'll notice there aren't any ads on the bike itself. It's because the ads are on city owned billboards.
In the beginning they were popular to steal but the novelty wore off, the bikes are heavy, and they are worthless to anyone but the city.
This is part of a much larger program. The mayor is rebuilding streets for only one way traffic, this opens the extra space for wider sidewalks and bike lanes. The only people complaining are commuters who drive to the city. But for city dwellers the decrease in traffic and wider sidewalks is greatly appreciated.
They launched a large scale bike sharing program here in Denver on Earth Day this year. It appears to be a success so far. I'm always seeing people on the signature red bikes on the trails and city streets.
http://denver.bcycle.com
thanks for the article...i was in paris recently..saw these bikes with in the first few districts..and loved them...dint really get how the system worked though....now i feel i should i have known,,,i could have had lesser aches and pains by the end of the day..maybe next time im going to look out for them..for sure
The University of Ottawa has a very, very small bike share programme that is free for staff and students. I hope it grows.