So it’s been some time, you wait for a couple of months and then they all come together, from one reason to another I haven’t been posting anything for a long time now. But it seems like the rain is gone and the sky is blue, and it’s time to write again.
So I had some nice trips over the holidays including Paris. While most people like to see the museums and walk along the river, enjoy the art galleries etc.. I don’t. Touristy stuff is for tourist and as clihe as it sounds, I don’t like to be a tourist. When I visit a city, I want to understand it, I want to know what it’s like to live there, which supermarkets do you go to? Which areas are known for what? what underground passes are on offer? How fast are the internet speed connections available? How are the relationships between parisiens? How do you treat a stranger? How do you treat a friend? Where are the social boundaries? What values does this city uphold? Now, I have noticed that it seems like I am turning this blog post into talking about me, so I’ll cut it short and start talking about Paris. Actually a very small aspect of Paris, its bicycles.
At first sight, you might think that loads of people in Paris have the same type of bicycle, it’s not particularly beautiful and it doesn’t look cheap either. And then you find a large number parked next to each other by the sidewalk. No it’s not a showroom, it is a velib station. You pay a deposit, get a subscription, get a card, use it to unlock the bicycle and then drop it off at any other station. A cheap rate per hour and that’s all. Simple.
Sounds pretty good, everyone has easy access to a bicycle, no need to buy one, no need to find a place to store it, no need to worry about it being stolen, and best of all if you ride a bike to work and it rains, just take public transport back without worrying about bringing your cycle with you on the bus.
So less emissions, less traffic and more excercise. Why is this not spreading to other cities I don’t know.
Public bikes systems are speading to other cities. Dozens of European cities have one or are building one. Montreal just opened one. New York City is actively planning one…
Copenhagen, Rennes, Lyon, and a bunch of German cities has some kind of a system prior to Paris open Velib.
None has the same ambitious scale and scope though. 20,000+bikes in Paris; a station every 300 meters or so!
Boris Johnson is implementing it too