Paris set for bike-share scheme to cut congestion

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070613/lf_nm/france_bikes_dc

PARIS (Reuters) - It's summer in Paris and the French
capital is preparing to offer bikes for anyone who
wants to take a ride. ADVERTISEMENT

By July 15, the city plans to park 10,648 bicycles at
750 stations and nearly double that by 2008, with
riders able to take bikes from one station and drop
them off at another.

Work on "Velib"' (short for 'free bike' in French) is
just starting, but it is already sparking enormous
interest.

The concept evolved from utopian bike-sharing programs
in Europe in the 1960s, aimed at reducing the use of
cars and cutting down on traffic congestion and air
pollution.

The most famous case was Amsterdam -- a flop because
bikes were either stolen or too beaten-up to ride.

Now, many cities are giving it a go again by
partnering up with advertising firms that will provide
bikes equipped with anti-theft systems in return for
city-wide advertising opportunities.

In the residential 15th district in southwestern
Paris, a parking spot next to a corner cafe is being
adapted to become home to a fleet of sleek, grey
bicycles.

"I think the program is a good thing, and it will help
reduce the number of cars on the street," said
Jean-Michel Bourdet, who owns a nearby video store.

"I used to ride bikes all the time, but they all kept
getting stolen. Now I'm going to start riding again,"
he said.

In an effort to prevent thefts crippling the network,
Velib' bikes will be equipped with a lock and an alarm
that will sound if the bike is not returned to a
station. There will also be a security deposit that
riders will lose if their bike vanishes.

Velib' is part of a wide-ranging plan drawn up by
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe to encourage residents to
leave their cars at home and reduce both the pollution
and the gridlock that often snarls the city's broad
boulevards.

"We hope car use will diminish and that people will
opt to take a bicycle or the bus," said City Hall
spokeswoman Gwenaelle Joffre, who is overseeing the
project.

LOCALS IN THE SADDLE

She said Delanoe's plan was aimed more at locals than
tourists looking to take a ride along the banks of the
Seine.

"Our program is for people traveling short distances,
from point A to point B," Joffre said. "It's for
people who don't want to take the bus. They'll take a
bike instead of taking the metro and transferring."

Renting a bike is simple: cyclists choose a bike and
insert a pre-paid card or credit card in a terminal to
unlock it from the station. When they are done, they
lock it up at any station.

If a bike is used for less than 30 minutes, the credit
card will not be charged. Every half hour after that
costs 1 euro ($1.33). Weekly rentals cost five euros
and yearly rentals just 29 euros.

To help riders navigate the streets, maps and safety
manuals in several languages will be available at
every station.

How Paris will cope with this flood of new bikes is
not clear, but Joffre saw no problem because the city
has 371 km (230 miles) of cycle paths.

Raphael Bohkobza, a salesman at Au Reparateur, a
popular bicycle repair shop that sells used and new
bikes in the centre of Paris, wasn't so sure.

"It might be a big mess," he said, worried that there
could be a jump in road accidents and noting there is
no law in France forcing riders to wear helmets.

"Normally, bike rental agents are people. Now it's
machines. What if people are drunk and are renting
bikes? It can be dangerous," he said. "Also tourists
who don't understand the system might cause problems."

CRAZY ABOUT BIKES

In 2006, France was the fourth largest cycle-buying
country in the world, according to the National
Council of Professional Cyclists. Part of that may be
a "Tour de France effect"-- long-distance bicycle
riding is a popular sport here.

But many French also took to cycling during a
crippling month-long transport strike in 1995 -- and
the habit stuck.

Velib' is paid for by JCDecaux, Europe's largest
outdoor advertising firm, in return for more
advertising around the city.

It first launched the program in 2002 in Vienna and in
the Spanish cities of Cordoba and Gijon. Today the
service can be found in cities such as Brussels and,
since 2005, Lyon, France's second largest city.

"Lyon began with 2,000 bikes and we'll be increasing
to 4,000 bikes," said Agathe Albertini, JCDecaux vice
president of communications. Other cities such as
Mulhouse, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Besancon have
signed up and more are watching.

But the Paris project is very ambitious and will show
whether major cities are ready for a two-wheel
revolution.

"It's very impressive," Joffre said. "Paris will
become the first world capital to have so many
bicycles freely available."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070613/lf_nm/france_bikes_dc