Biking through the City of Light is easy with Velib

PARIS - I pedaled past Notre Dame Cathedral, shifted to third gear and cruised down scenic Quai Voltaire, which runs along the left bank of the Seine. I stopped at an automated bicycle station, docked my rented bike and walked a couple of blocks to the Musee d'Orsay. After a three-hour foray into priceless art, I returned to the station, removed another bike, rode down Boulevard St.

Germain and docked across the street from Cafe de Flore.

Following lunch at the fabled Paris eatery, I returned to the station, selected my third bicycle of the day and rode across the river to Place de la Bastille.

Thanks to Velib, getting around Paris is as easy as un, deux, trois.

A hybrid term derived from velo (bicycle) and liberte (freedom), Velib is Mayor Bertrand Delanoe's latest effort to combat traffic congestion and turn Paris into a bicycle-happy green zone.

On July 15, City Hall unveiled 10,600 three-speed bicycles at 750 automated stations aroundtown. The curbside stations - there's one every 900 feet or so - allow users to remove a bicycle, ride to any Paris destination and return the bike to a nearby station. By the end of 2007 a total of 21,600 bicycles will be available at 1,451 stations.

Patterned after the Velo'v bike commuting program in Lyon, the Paris Velib system is equally brilliant. Simply walk up to the computerized pillar at any Velib station and use your credit card to sign up. A one-day subscription costs 1 euro ($1.34).

Seven-day stints go for 5 euros ($6.74), and one-year subscriptions - available only to locals - cost 29 euros ($39).

After completing the simple sign-up procedure, you'll receive a six-digit subscriber number.

Punch in the number along with your four-digit pin code. Press the button on the appropriate bike attachment point and voila!

A beep indicates that your bike can be removed. Simply adjust the seat, place your belongings in the wire basket and you're ready to roll.

During the first half-hour the bike rental is free. The second half-hour costs 1 euro.

The third half-hour is 2 euros

($2.70). The fourth half-hour

- and every half-hour thereaf

ter - costs 4 euros ($5.39).

The increasingly steep half

hourly charges are meant to

discourage riders from keeping

a bike for long periods. Built for

endurance rather than speed,

the bulky 48-pound Velib bikes

are designed for short com

mutes by successive riders in a

given day. It's cheaper to rent a

bike from a local bicycle shop

if you plan to ride continuously

all day.

Paris boasts 230 miles of

dedicated bike paths, desig

nated bike lanes and bus lanes

that are open to bikes. Rather

than scuttle underground in the

gloomy Paris Metro, I prefer to

pedal above ground from one

destination to the next - drop

ping off a bike and picking up

another one along the way.

In fact, Velib can be a life

saver in the wee hours of the

morning. When the Metro shuts

down on weekend nights (ap

proximately 12:30 a.m. Fridays

and 2:30 a.m. Saturdays), thou

sands of partied-out Parisians

wait in long taxi queues, hoping

to get picked up before sunrise.

Rather than wait along with

them, I choose to hop on a bike

and ride home with a smile on

my face.

But the system isn't without

flaws. Computer glitches have

been known to render stations

temporarily inoperable. Al

though Visa and MasterCard

are accepted, only my Ameri

can Express card seems to work

(friends have experienced the

same problem). And the other

night, when I rolled up to the

Velib station closest to my

apartment, all the bike attach

ment points were occupied.

By punching in my sub

scriber number, however, the

system gave me an additional

15 minutes to find another sta

tion before the half-hour charge

kicked in. The computer screen

displayed the location of the

nearest station. It even listed

the number of unoccupied bike

attachment points: one.

Pedaling furiously, I covered

900 feet of Parisian asphalt in

no time. But when I reached the

station someone was docking

their bike in the final slot.

C'est la vie. I rode to the next

closest station, docked my bike

and walked home.

USING VELIB Bicycles are available 24 hours

a day, 365 days a year.

When subscribing, a 150 euro ($202) authorization is made on your credit card.

Helmets are not provided. For information on renting helmets and long-term bicycles, click the Velib link on the City of Paris Web site, www.paris-france.

org/en.

Instructions are available in

three languages: French, English

and Spanish. German, Italian,

Arabic, Chinese and Japanese

will soon be available.

For more information, visit the

Velib site at www.velib.paris.

fr (French only. An English-lan

guage site is coming soon).

Travel, Pages 102 on 10/28/2007

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