PSFK recently reported on Velib, a new bike sharing program coming to Paris. The gist of the service is you pay an annual fee, roughly US$75, and you can use a special card to unlock access to a bike for 30-minutes of use, with longer periods available. The Web site is entirely in French, but if you don’t know the language you can see details of the bikes and special stations where the 451 bikes will be available. The service appears to borrow from car sharing services like Zipcar and I-GO.

This is a great idea! Though many people in cities around the world own bikes, they don’t tend to be in the best condition due to heavy usage on the mean streets, and the potential for theft. This service could allow for the casual bike rider to have access on-demand, or encourage others to use one. Not to mention it could free up a little storage space in an inner-city apartment.

Maybe Chicago could be its first US city?

Comments

I really love this idea. The cynic in me says the bikes would be routinely stolen or defaced if someone tries this idea stateside, but the idealist in me says the system would be enormously popular.

Comment by Drew
on 07/24/07 at 09:56 AM
 

This is actually an extension from a previous experiment in Lyon (another large french city).  It was successful there, and despite awful weather, has started off great here in Paris.
The cynic in you is quite right.  The same happened in Lyon: bikes were defaced, left all over the place, and so on.  That’s actually part of the reason they’re so low tech, heavy and painted in a dull color. 
Part of the service is also a couple trucks going around the city moving bikes from spot to spot to make sure every station is full.
We’ll give it a couple years, and see how it fares.

Comment by Candide
on 07/26/07 at 11:53 AM
 

Hello Candide - Thanks for your perspective on this program!  Like anything new, it takes time, but I hope it does catch on.  Please drop by again and let us know how it goes.

mp/m

Comment by Mike Maddaloni
on 07/26/07 at 12:03 PM
 

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