Sunday, July 6, 2008

Paris Bikes


Sunday morning, July 6: Parisians have a unique way of transporting themselves from one point in the city to another. “Vélib” (“vélo libre” or “vélo liberté,” meaning free bicycle or bicycle freedom) is a self-service “bike hire” system available 24/7. Launched in 2007, 10,000 bicycles were introduced to the city with 750 hire points each with 15 or more bikes/spaces. This number has since doubled.

Riders insert a special pass or a credit card at a Vélib kiosk and select a sturdy, easy-to-ride bike. Rental rates are very cheap: first ½ hour is free; each additional hour is 1 euro. Riders return the bike at any hire point in the city. The Vélib Web site has an interactive map that shows hire points and a real-time inventory of available bikes at each point.

Most Americans are not able to use this service. Your credit card must have a special “smart” chip, not yet available on most U.S. cards.

Learn more at: http://www.blogger.com/www.en.velib.paris.fr/comment_ca_marche
- Sue Gettlin

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It looks like there are good things in the works to get a similar program started in Philadelphia soon!

http://bikesharephiladelphia.org/home/