Paris on Two Wheels

By Miriam Rabkin
Contributor to Tolerance.ca®

The first time I heard about Vélib was this past summer, when my brother returned from a vacation in Paris. He told me about this wonderful new system where you could rent a bike and in this way visit the city without depending on the metro or buses. It was now easily possible to see the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral within a half hour, all the while taking in all of Paris’s beautiful sites. So you can imagine my excitement when I landed in Paris just two weeks ago, looking forward to discovering Paris by bike myself.

The system works like a marvel. You pick up a bike at any location (there are bicycle stands throughout the city). You input your credit card information into a sort of parking meter and you choose which bike you want. You pay 1 euro, you pick up one of an identical row of light grey bikes and off you go. There is a small limitation however – you need to return the bicycle to another stand within a half hour, otherwise you get charged by the hour for every hour that it is late. This can be inconvenient if you choose to take the bike for the day without stopping at a stand every half hour because the bill quickly rises. As a result, you have to plan your trip properly, know that you are going from point A to point B, stop, and change bikes within the half hour before going on to point C. However, while a tourist like me might have liked to rent a bike and visit the city for a full day, most people usually need a bike for a half hour or so, as they run errands, go to work or school, or even to another tourist attraction. The Vélib definitely has its bonus points.

Quite a few young Parisians confirmed this for me. Klara, a 21-year old medical student, told me that with the Vélib, she almost never takes the metro anymore. Moreover, an additional bonus is that when she goes out late and the metro system is no longer in service (it stops at around 1 a.m.), she knows she can always bike home. This means cutting costs on taxis or not worrying about waiting forever for a night bus to come.

The popularity of the Vélib is particularly strong among university students, but it is quite common to see men and women in business suits, trench coats, and dress shoes (yes, including high heels), as they head to work. Baguettes sticking out from the bicycle’s front basket are also quite frequent, as Parisians head back from their grocery shopping. This bicycle system, in a city where it almost never snows, means that the Vélib can be used all year round. It is practical, environmentally friendly, and easy to use.

The Vélib also got me to contemplate the state of public transportation in France in general. As I took a 2 hour TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) to Strasbourg, I realized how unfortunate it is that no transport system in Canada can get you from one major city to another relatively cheaply and in little time. Trains are expensive and buses are more time-consuming. Planes are altogether unaffordable for regular trips, which leaves cars as an often used and less expensive option. This situation crowds Canadian highways and pollutes the countryside. Moreover, driving a car doesn’t have the comfort of a train, where you can work, sleep, read and move around. It would be so convenient to have a TGV to Toronto for example, that would cost under a hundred dollars and would take two hours instead of four. The implications of putting together such a system are certainly pricey, but it would allow Canadians and tourists to visit other Canadian cities more easily and might even help boost local economies as local tourism spreads. This may all be a dream right now, but one with incredible potential for growth.

Bringing the Vélib to Canada could also be interesting, but I can see where such an infrastructure might not work. It snows half the year, which means this system, though very practical in the summer, would probably get considerably less usage in the winter. Still, if ever municipal governments want to invest in a new form of public transportation, this is something to consider. Imagine being able to pick up a bike in the Plateau and quickly head downtown. Or go from the Olympic Stadium to the Old Port by bike and then leave the bicycle there. Montreal would have quite a different landscape as people would go from place to place in an active manner (at a time when people are trying to exercise more), in a more environmentally friendly manner (as so many are trying to find ways to curb global warming), and, always a good thing, more cheaply.

One caveat which begs to be mentioned – I never once got to ride the Vélib. For some reason, my Canadian credit card kept getting refused. This makes the Vélib not all that tourist friendly. Hopefully on my next visit to Paris, the system will have improved, and make access to these bicycles convenient not only for regular Parisians, but for all those visiting the City of Light as well.

^* One of the many Vélib bicycle stands that have been set up across Paris this past year. Image : Tolerance.ca ®

Comment on this article!





Canads has Bike Sharing like Vélib.

By Nic Simon on December 12,2008
Montréal has a system like Vélib! It is BIXI .You will start to see the shared bikes and stations after the winter's thaw. You will enjoy it as much as Parisians love Vélib. Next time in Paris, try an American Express card it will work just fine. Vélib is very tourist friendly. It just does not take North American MC/Visa. It only takes the MC/Visa cards with the "puce," the little chip.



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