Paris set for bike-share scheme to cut congestion

The following article was published by Reuters reporter Alexandra Steigrad on June 13:

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

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.

Paris's Velib' to Launch on July 15

Having just returned from Europe, I had the opportunity to meet with the administrators of various bike-sharing programs, including the Velib' program in Paris. The excitement of the soon-to-launch program was palpable. With a plan to have a fleet of 20,600 bikes on the street by the end of the year, it will surely have a positive effect on increasing bike mode share in this city of few cyclists, reducing traffic congestion, and improving the health of Parisiens.

Velib' is expected to launch on July 15 and the staff are busily installing stations around the city. As of two weeks ago there were 20 stations with two bikes each set up around the city with "spokes"people to explain the system to passersby. With 20,600 additional bikes on the streets of Paris, it will surely increase the bike mode share of the city as bike-sharing has in Lyon with Velo'v (400-500% increase in two years) and in Barcelona with Bicing (100% in three months). These numbers are from the accounts of the administrators of these programs.

photo credit: Paul DeMaio. Photo may be used with author permission.

Bike-sharing Links Added

I've begun adding a list of existing bike-sharing programs on the right-side of this page. This list will grow over the upcoming months as more programs are added. I know I'm missing a few, so please send links if you have them. I'm glad to see Paris warming up with the launch of its program, Vélib'.

Barcelona's Bicing is Off to a Good Start

Barcelona's "Bicing" is off to a good start according to an article in Spain's El Pais newspaper (article in Spanish). Bicing began on March 22, 2007 and already has 8,000 members. The Barcelona City Council states that the ultimate goal will be "3,000 bicycles for rental [...] distributed between 250 automatic collection points". Presently, El Pais notes there are 38 stations with 350 bikes. The number of bikes will be rising to 1,500 before summer and 3,000 by the end of the year. The cost of Bicing is free to members for the first 30 minutes and 1 Euro per half hour afterwards.

Best of luck with your new program, Barcelona.

image credit: Bicing

French Revolution

The statistic! blog has a great piece on the number of shared bikes per 1,000 residents of various cities in Europe. While the graphic is not all-inclusive of existing bike-sharing programs, it is fascinating to see.

by Statistico; May 18, 2007

Today thousands of cyclists around the country hit the streets for Bike to Work Day in the United States. In a country dominated by the car, bike transit - as opposed to recreational cycling - is still somewhat of a novelty. Even in large, densely populated cities, you’re more likely to find shared cars than shared bikes. And despite the fact that a car costs 40 times more than a bike, daily fees for renting bikes often exceed those for renting a car.

More...

image credit: statistic!

Paris Embraces Plan to Become City of Bikes

This report came out in March and generated a lot of interest:

by John Ward Anderson; The Washington Post; March 23, 2007

Paris is for lovers -- lovers of food and art and wine, lovers of the romantic sort and, starting this summer, lovers of bicycles.

On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city's image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.

More

photo credit: The Washington Post

Two Wheels Better than Four in France

by Anita Lash; National Public Radio; May 15, 2007

Paris officials are making 20,000 bikes available for rent across the city in a bid to reduce the number of cars. It's one of the most ambitious efforts anywhere but critics believe it won't appeal to many potential cyclists.

More...

Image credit: JCDecaux

Welcome to the Bike-sharing Blog

As the concept of bike-sharing catches on, I felt it important to have a blog about the emerging concept to facilitate the demand for and education about this green mode of transportation. I plan to share news items from around the world on bike-sharing to keep people up-to-date with what is happening in this fast-changing field. Feel free to forward any information about bike-sharing which I may include.

Thanks!

Paul DeMaio
MetroBike LLC
Washington, DC