let them ride bikes: Parisians to hit roads

March 26, 2007

PARIS: 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.

By the end of the year, there should be 20,600 bikes at 1450 stations - or about one station every 250 metres across the entire city. Based on experience elsewhere - particularly in Lyon, France's third-largest city - regular users of the bikes will ride them almost free.

"We think it could change Paris's image - make it quieter, less polluted, with a nicer atmosphere, a better way of life," said Jean-Luc Dumesnil, an aide to the Mayor, Bertrand Delanoe.

Anthonin Darbon, director of Cyclocity, which operates Lyon's program and won the contract to run the one in Paris, said 95 per cent of the roughly 20,000 daily bicycle rentals in Lyon are free because of their length.

Cyclocity is a subsidiary of the outdoor advertising behemoth JCDecaux. London, Dublin, Sydney and Melbourne are reportedly considering similar rental programs.

The Cyclocity concept evolved from utopian "bike-sharing" ideas tried in Europe in the 1960s, most famously in Amsterdam. But in the end, the bikes were stolen and became too beaten-up to ride.

JCDecaux developed a sturdier, less vandal-prone bike, along with a rental system to discourage theft: each rider must leave a credit card or refundable deposit of about €150 ($250). In Lyon, about 10 per cent of the bikes are stolen each year, but many are later recovered.

To encourage people to return bikes quickly, rental rates rise the longer the bikes are out. In Paris, for instance, renting a bike will be free for the first half-hour, €1 for the next, €2 for the third, and so on.

In a complex, 10-year public-private partnership deal, JCDecaux will provide all the bikes and build the pick-up/drop-off stations. Each will have racks connected to a centralised computer that can monitor each bike's condition and location. In exchange, Paris is giving the company exclusive control over 1628 city-owned billboards.

The Washington Post