A week on the Velib' bikes by Nemorino
In the summer of 2008 I took out a seven-day subscription (for a mere five Euros) to the fantastic Velib' system of short-term spontaneous bicycle rentals and spent the week touring Paris on these sturdy and nearly-free machines.I didn't keep track of exactly how often I checked out a bike, but looking back I would estimate that I took seven to twelve separate rides per day. Since the first half hour of each ride is free, i.e. included in the subscription price, I usually returned my bike to one of the 1,450 Velib' stations before the half hour was up, and then immediately took another one (or the same one again) if I wanted to go further. Please have a look at my tip How Velib' works for more details on the pricing system.
Update: When my credit card statement arrived the following month, it turned out that Velib' had billed me for all of seven Euros, from which I conclude that only two of my many cycling trips lasted longer than half an hour. (A seven-day subscription costs five Euros, and if a trip lasts more than 30 minutes then one additional Euro is charged for the second half hour.) Only seven Euros for a week of cycling! That has to be one of the world's greatest bargains.
The first photo shows Velib' station 10001 aka 10-01 (first station in the tenth district or arrondissement) at Place Johann Strauss, a block from my hotel, where I often started out in the morning.
Additional photos: Here are just a few of the many thousands of Velib' riders on the streets of Paris. According to city officials there are 120,000 trips on an average day, which works out to about 27.5 million trips during the first year of operation.
http://www.velib.paris.fr/
