Taxi drivers and other critics said that it would never work, but three weeks after Paris was sprinkled with 10,000 self-service bicycles, the scheme is proving a triumph and a new pedalling army appears to be taming the city’s famously fierce traffic.
Bertrand Delanoë, the city’s mayor, and his green-minded administration are jubilant at the gusto with which Parisians and visitors have taken to the heavy grey cycles that have been available at 750 ranks since July 15. . . .
Visitors to Paris can buy weekly or daily Vélib cards for €5 or €1. The giant fleet of Vélibs (short for free or freedom-bikes in French) is already showing signs of transforming a city which, despite increasing cycle lanes, had never been pedal-friendly. The real test will come with the end of summer and the return of bad weather and grumpy Parisians from holiday. . . .
Parisians, meanwhile, appear to be enjoying their new found pedal power. In the first three weeks of the world’s biggest bike rental scheme, the 22kg (48lb) machines were borrowed 1.2 million times. Each is being used six times a day on average, usually for the short trips that are encouraged by the pricing scheme.
The successes . . . and failures . . . * Copenhagen Prototype scheme, with advertising sponsorship – bicycles have tyres that do not puncture
* Lyon 1,500 bicycles available for 15,000 users. Costs 30p for 30 minutes
* Germany Some glitches with GPS system
* St Andrews Bikes were stolen in the Scottish university town in an early pilot scheme
* Cambridge When a pilot scheme started in the 1960s, the fleet slowly vanished. When it was resurrected in 1993, all 300 bicycles were stolen on the first day
Pedal power 15 extra free minutes are granted if a rider’s destination station is already full of bikes
