T
Tim Campbell
Guest
Charles Bremner in Paris -
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.
Nowhere is the project being watched with greater interest than in
London
as the city prepares for London Freewheel day next month, when miles
of
roads will be car-free for the day. After witnessing first-hand the
ease
with which Parisians have taken to pedalling, Ken Livingstone, the
Mayor,
has asked Transport for London to develop a similar plan for London
and
bring together several smaller schemes across the city.
In Paris there have been few teething troubles with the high-tech
system
that supplies the bikes for up to €1 per half-hour — but one is a
result
of residents using them to glide downhill to work and then taking
public
transport home, resulting in gluts of bikes at some low-level stands
and
shortages at higher altitude stations, such as Montmartre.
Related Links
* Paris mobilises pedal power to cut pollution
* Bicycles out to push drivers off the road
Subscribers must pay €29 (£20) a year, give their credit card details
and
leave a €150 credit card deposit to join the Vélib scheme. This buys
half
an hour’s pedalling a day and a card to lock and unlock bicycles from
automated stations spaced every 300 metres in the city’s centre.
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.
A number of free-bike schemes have been road-tested relatively
successfully in London. OYbikes, co-founded by a former cabbie, Bernie
Hanning, three years ago, lets cyclists hire a bike free for 30
minutes,
after paying an initial £10 registration fee. Cyclists can phone the
OYBike call centre to get the code to unlock the bike at locations
including Hammersmith, Fulham and West Kensington. Another scheme in
Tower
Hamlets encourages employers with tax benefits to provide pooled bikes
for
staff.
Dave Holladay, a veteran cycling enthusiast who advises the CTC, the
national cycling organisation, welcomed the move to introduce a
large-scale bike scheme in London. “It takes no more than 15 minutes
to
get to any Central London terminus by bike, so there could be huge
benefits for the city. I think TFL should look at what’s available as
there is already a lot going on. In the case of OYbikes, it only takes
ten
minutes to erect one of their hiring points, so a project like that
can be
expanded very easily.â€
However, he added that one of the main reasons that similar schemes
had
failed in England, for example in Southampton and Bristol, is because
of a
lack of co-operation from the rail networks, who have objected to
providing parking space near stations.
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.
New patterns are forming, with arriving commuters stripping the stands
at
railway stations. To ensure a morning ride, some have taken —
illegally —
to securing bikes at night with their own locks. J. C. Decaux, the
company
that provides and services the bikes at no charge in return for rights
to
the city’s advertising space, is also seeking ways to counter theft
and
damage after 50 were torn from their moorings and 180 vandalised in
the
first weeks of the 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
48% increase in bicycle use in Paris since 2001
27 milesof these were built in 2006
14 minimum age to join the scheme
1,451 collection points by the end of the year
230 miles of cycle paths in the city
Source: www.velib.paris. fr
http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ tol/news/ world/europe/ article2224917.
ece
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.
Nowhere is the project being watched with greater interest than in
London
as the city prepares for London Freewheel day next month, when miles
of
roads will be car-free for the day. After witnessing first-hand the
ease
with which Parisians have taken to pedalling, Ken Livingstone, the
Mayor,
has asked Transport for London to develop a similar plan for London
and
bring together several smaller schemes across the city.
In Paris there have been few teething troubles with the high-tech
system
that supplies the bikes for up to €1 per half-hour — but one is a
result
of residents using them to glide downhill to work and then taking
public
transport home, resulting in gluts of bikes at some low-level stands
and
shortages at higher altitude stations, such as Montmartre.
Related Links
* Paris mobilises pedal power to cut pollution
* Bicycles out to push drivers off the road
Subscribers must pay €29 (£20) a year, give their credit card details
and
leave a €150 credit card deposit to join the Vélib scheme. This buys
half
an hour’s pedalling a day and a card to lock and unlock bicycles from
automated stations spaced every 300 metres in the city’s centre.
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.
A number of free-bike schemes have been road-tested relatively
successfully in London. OYbikes, co-founded by a former cabbie, Bernie
Hanning, three years ago, lets cyclists hire a bike free for 30
minutes,
after paying an initial £10 registration fee. Cyclists can phone the
OYBike call centre to get the code to unlock the bike at locations
including Hammersmith, Fulham and West Kensington. Another scheme in
Tower
Hamlets encourages employers with tax benefits to provide pooled bikes
for
staff.
Dave Holladay, a veteran cycling enthusiast who advises the CTC, the
national cycling organisation, welcomed the move to introduce a
large-scale bike scheme in London. “It takes no more than 15 minutes
to
get to any Central London terminus by bike, so there could be huge
benefits for the city. I think TFL should look at what’s available as
there is already a lot going on. In the case of OYbikes, it only takes
ten
minutes to erect one of their hiring points, so a project like that
can be
expanded very easily.â€
However, he added that one of the main reasons that similar schemes
had
failed in England, for example in Southampton and Bristol, is because
of a
lack of co-operation from the rail networks, who have objected to
providing parking space near stations.
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.
New patterns are forming, with arriving commuters stripping the stands
at
railway stations. To ensure a morning ride, some have taken —
illegally —
to securing bikes at night with their own locks. J. C. Decaux, the
company
that provides and services the bikes at no charge in return for rights
to
the city’s advertising space, is also seeking ways to counter theft
and
damage after 50 were torn from their moorings and 180 vandalised in
the
first weeks of the 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
48% increase in bicycle use in Paris since 2001
27 milesof these were built in 2006
14 minimum age to join the scheme
1,451 collection points by the end of the year
230 miles of cycle paths in the city
Source: www.velib.paris. fr
http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ tol/news/ world/europe/ article2224917.
ece
