Pay-as-you-go bicycles to hit Parisian streets
An initiative to free up the French capital's streets by providing thousands of pay-as-you-go bicycles is due to be launched on the 15 July. The radical scheme, if successful could set the mould for future urban transport.
Amsterdam has long been associated with a culture of urban cycling and the benefits to health, pollution, congestion are all obvious but to implement a project of this scale of change is unique.
The scheme called Vélib, an adjunct of Velo, French for speed, and Lib… for freedom will flood the capital’s streets with some 20,600 bikes in 1451 locations by the end of the year. To access the bikes, riders can select a one-day card for 1 euro, a weekly card for 5 euros or an annual card for 29 euros. After the purchase of an access card, riding for the first half-hour is free.
Each Vélib parking station will be equipped with muni-meters to purchase one and 7-day passes and to pay any additional charges once the bike is dropped off. The Vélib meters will also provide information on other station locations.
The city of Paris has over 371 km (230 miles) of dedicated cycling lanes.
The irony of this initiative came into sharp focus this week as classic cars were arriving in the capital from China on the last leg of the Peking-Paris rally. Beijing has long standing links with Paris but the Chinese capital has, over the last decade or so, back-pedalled on the green initiative and taken a different course. Its new found wealth has seen most of its “9 million bicycles” ditched in favour of four wheels. This unprecedented growth in traffic has overloaded the road network leading to gridlock and massive pollution issues.
Norway's capital, Oslo, implemented a similar scheme with some 80 stations about three years ago and it has been operating sucessfully since.
Source:WAN
Related stories
- 50 million for promoting walking and cycling schemes across the UK
- Initial mixed reactions to Ashford's 'shared space' ring road scheme
- Research study tracking 'aggregate behaviour of city dwellers' is criticsed for 'big brother' technology tagging
- Social enterprise Walk England promotes walking and brings interested parties together
- Green car scheme mooted for Paris, but not everyone is happy: Bristol follows Paris as UK's first Cycling City
- Report urges London Mayor to make use of River Thames for cross-city transport
- 'Pay-for school run parking bays' pilot in London to 'cut congestion, reduce emissions and encourage youngsters to walk'
- DfT publishes guidance on designing traffic management schemes to minimise their impact on the streetscape
- Eco towns could 'seriously increase pressure' on overstretched infrastructure in the south east, says SEERA
- 'Civilised streets' guide to shared space and shared surfaces published
- Eco towns could become isolated and 'soulless Stepford Wives suburbia', warns RTPI
- London workers have much lower carbon footprints than others in the UK, says report
- London Mayor unveils programme to transform cycling and walking
- Atkins broadens transport planning, connectivity and mobility scope
- Streetscape improvements for Carlisle market town initiative
- Cycle hire scheme for London proposed by Mayor, following Parisian success story
- Removing signs and barriers from streets could actually make them safer, says CABE
- London suburbs need regeneration and reconnecting to the city, say two new reports
- Amendments for cyclists in the wake of worsening cycling conditions
- Women cyclists are more likely to be killed in traffic: TfL suppresses report
