As many people know, Paris has implemented a bike rental system servicing the majority of the city. I had heard of it, but until now had not investigated it in detail. What I found is that Velib, the name of the system, is fantastic! The stations are spread out 300m apart, so they are extremely accessible. You buy daily, weekly or yearly passes, and this grants you access to the system. From there, if you have a day or week pass you punch in a code at the station meter to access the bikes, a yearly pass holder gains access by a single swipe at the rack itself! A credit card number is required when purchasing your pass, and this card number is charged for any fees accrued. So, after you get your bike the first 30 minutes are free. After that, fees are added after the next half hour, and every consecutive hour after that. It gets quite expensive after a couple of hours, and this is to encourage short term use, freeing up more bikes for a higher turnover of users. This system has been highly effective, and is being used frequently by Paris's 2 million residents and 30 million yearly tourists. Paris now has 20,000 rental bikes available. This is 20,000 less people participating in the carbon emission system. Think of the impact this could make if major cities around the world did the same; we all know the impact our own lives have from doing the metabolism journals. Every little change counts. This type of change what we need to see more of to create cleaner, healthier societies!
Check out this video for a better idea
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What a great idea!! There are so many people who would be willing to use this system even here in Winnipeg. I wonder what cities would look like if they were designed to the 20 minute bike scale...
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