Paris Tries to Revive Bicycles

The French capital will introduce a system of public bike rentals, backed by the mayor as an option for green transportation
by Stefan Simons

The French may love their bicycles, but in Paris, only a courageous minority braves traffic on two wheels. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe wants Parisians to consider looking backward.

Yves Montand has a song called "À Bicyclette," a love song to a woman whose name ("Paulette") rhymes conveniently with the title means of transporation. It is what outsiders think of as "typically French," both the song and the sentiment. Except that the good old wire donkey is considered as antique in 21st-century France as Montand himself. There are exceptions -- like bicycles upgraded with high-tech equipment and refashioned as instruments of speeding athleticism. Sports riders in fluorescent sprinting outfits can be admired as they whirl around the horse-racing tracks of the Bois de Boulogne, for example. They usually travel in throngs, which is hardly in keeping with the French character.

But all that may change if Parisian Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and Denis Baupin of the Green Party -- the man charged with transportation issues in Paris -- have their way. They want to convert their fellow citizens to the healthy and ecologically sound transportation option of bike travel. On July 15 -- just after Bastille Day -- Paris will introduce a citywide system of public bike rentals called Vélib, intended to give pedal power to the people.

The high-tech idea is to let Parisians as well as tourists rent bikes from public stations with nothing but a chip card. No fewer than 750 self-service stations equipped with over 10,000 rentable bikes will go into service in July. The city's Socialist-Green administration has been promoting the idea that bicycles produce no emissions, remain mobile in traffic jams, and -- most importantly -- are easy to park. They want people in Paris to choose the bicycle over the car, the bus or the subway. Cycling isn't even slower than driving, since car drivers in Paris move through the avenues and boulevards at an average speed of just five kilometers an hour (3.1 mph).

Liberated vélos
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The Vélib model of public bike rentals -- variations of which already exist in other cities such as Rennes, Strasbourg and Lyon (not to mention Berlin) -- is simple. Each station is equipped with 15 bicycles. Customers release one bike from the station by means of a chip card, which then lets them deposit the bike at any other station at the end of the journey. Payment occurs electronically. A customer has to load up the card by buying a subscription to the service, which can be purchased online, in town halls or at post offices. Using a metro ticket as a subscription will also be possible at some stations.


Go here to hear the song: http://www.greenspiration.org/memorial/song.htm

(((entire article @ link below)))

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070618_135640.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/world/europe/13paris.html?ref=world

It seems a matter of the right idea at the right time, and other cities have been looking into similar plans.