PARIS, July 15 — About a dozen sweaty people pedaled bicycles up the Champs-Élysées on Sunday toward the Arc de Triomphe, as onlookers cheered.
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Alastair Miller/Bloomberg News
Two tourists rented bicycles Sunday at City Hall.
These were not the leading riders of the Tour de France racing toward the finish line, but American tourists testing this city’s new communal bike program.
“I’m never taking the subway again,” said a beaming Justin Hill, 47, a real estate broker from Santa Barbara, Calif.
More than 10,600 of the hefty gray bicycles became available for modest rental prices on Sunday at 750 self-service docking stations that provide access in eight languages. The number is to grow to 20,600 by the end of the year.
The program, Vélib (for “vélo,” bicycle, and “liberté,” freedom), is the latest in a string of European efforts to reduce the number of cars in city centers and give people incentives to choose more eco-friendly modes of transport.
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Vélib
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slayerdiabolus
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Re: Vélib
I completely agree with this. Living in a city, using a bike would be the easiest way to get to your destination. But the problem arises of where to store the bike at your destination. This solves that problem. Hopefully this will be implemented in other Major European cities
2003 - Dublin. 2004 - Donington, Dublin. 2006 - Donington. 2007 - Live Earth, Wembley. 2008 - Dublin, London. 2009 Milan, Rome, Dublin