Bixi vs. Vélib

There isn't really any competition, but it has little to do with the bike-sharing system and everything to do with the host city. While Montréal seems French in so many ways, it's actually a closeted Dutch city, where biking has become so popular and so mundane that driving almost plays second fiddle. Lots of people use Bixi to get around, but even more appear to have their own bikes and to ride them everywhere. The following video is characteristic - or possible an under-sampling - of the biking scene in the city.

I took this video at 8 AM from our private terrace at L'Auberge de la Fontaine, in the Plateau Mont Royal neighborhood. (The stress of planning and executing a wedding melted away as soon as we arrived at this hotel, the perfect honeymoon home-away-from-home.) After biking the entire length of this bikes-only, protected path later in the day (see map below), Maggie and I only confirmed what we first suspected when I made this video in the morning: we need to move to Montreal.

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Watch Out, Paris

With a week and a half to go before our departure, Maggie finally took a leap of faith and climbed up on a Vélib'.


For a long time, she had been hesitant to ride, in part because Vélib' bikes are heavy and slightly awkward, but more because Parisian traffic can be frighteningly intense. I never worried about either of these things, mostly because I don't have Maggie's common sense and preservation instincts.

Ultimately, Maggie rode one Vélib' to a movie theater nearby, and another one back to our apartment, all without incident. When we go back to Paris, maybe she'll feel more comfortable with the bike and with Parisian traffic. And then . . .

. . . Oh, the places she'll go!

Wear and Tear

One of the major, apparently unanticipated problems with Paris' Vélib' bike-sharing system is that a surprising number of bikes are too damaged to ride. Those who run the program (the City of Paris and advertising company JC Decaux) have been quick to blame disaffected youth from primarily poor and immigrant neighborhoods. To counter the damage, there's now an advertising campaign urging individual responsibility and respect:

Top: "It's easy to beat on a velib - it can't defend itself." Bottom: "16,000 bikes vandalized, 8,000 missing. Velib' belongs to you - protect it!"

It's possible that this ad campaign has worked, and/or the novelty of vandalism has worn off. Most of the damaged bikes I've seen have straightforward problems, like flat tires, discombobulated gear chains, and unbalanced or worn-down brakes. On a message board devoted to complaints about Vélib' an entire thread is devoted to brake problems that could not be the result of vandalism. This suggests that basic wear and tear could be the next big challenge for Vélib's operators to overcome.

Some kinds of wear and tear are unavoidable, while others are extremely avoidable. Am I crazy to suggest that the city's drivers and cyclists would all benefit if Paris finished paving its roads? Hey, Paris - the 19th century called, they want their cobblestone streets back!

Cobblestone streets should only exist in pedestrian-only zones. The sooner Paris lays down some asphalt on the Rue du Faubourg du Temple and other guilty stretches of road, the sooner they'll have bikes in better condition, and the less my brain will bounce around in my head on my way to the library every day.

The Ride Home

Paris is incredibly bike-friendly, and has been since long before the advent of the Vélib' program, which supplies the bikes I ride. Most major streets have some kind of dedicated bike lane, either within the median, cordoned off by a narrow median on the side, or in a shared bus/bike lane. Rue Beaubourg (leading past the Centre Pompidou and to the Hôtel de Ville) is a fine example of the latter:

Did you notice the green and white cyclist symbol painted on the pavement? Anywhere you see that is where cyclists are supposed to be, both for their safety and for smoother traffic flow. There are also bike-specific signs (same colors) on the side of the road, pointing out the most direct way for cyclists to get to big intersections and landmarks. There are even bike-specific traffic lights at cyclists' eye-level, which unfortunately you can't quite make out in this next video (which also shows off bike lanes within the median of a boulevard):

I travel down this bike lane on my way back home from the Médiathèque Gustav Mahler, one of the libraries I've been working at. While normally, bike-riding itself is entertainment enough (especially when there isn't a dedicated bike lane), the boulevards that run along/through Montmartre offer lots of unusual sights. Here's a short narrated tour:

Do I need to do anything else to convince you that Paris is a great city to see by bike?

V is for Vélib'

Don't tell my mom, but I've been riding bikes in Paris. Yes, I said bikes - tons of 'em. With the help of my (crucial) French bank card, I signed up for Vélib' (short for Vélo libre, free bike), the city-organized bike-sharing program that other cities, including Boston, are trying to emulate.

We've mentioned Vélib' before, but we've never described it in detail. Before I get into the nitty-gritty, just to keep things interesting, here's a relevant excerpt from an email to my friend Diana:

I just started availing myself of the bike-sharing program they have here (called Velib, the NYT writes about it all the time). The bikes are super heavy and I have to struggle just about as much as I can to attain the speeds to which I'm accustomed (on my road bike in Boston). That means I always arrive at my destination sweaty and flustered. I mostly ride in the bus lanes (which are cyclist-friendly) and try not to get mowed down by psycho motorcyclists. I gloat when I pass a line of 30 cars stuck behind a garbage truck. I am the ONLY cyclist who wears a helmet. Biking through Paris gives me a rush I've never experienced before, and makes me want to bike NYC next time I'm there. Will you ride with me?

Here's how it works: you have the option of a one-day, week-long or year-long pass, which respectively cost 1, 5, and 29 euros. A pass allows you to take out a bike for up to a half-hour, completely free of charge. The second half-hour costs 1 euro, the next half-hour after that costs 2 euros, and every half-hour after that costs 4 euros. Basically, it gets expensive if you keep the bike more than an hour, and I never do. But as long as you keep it under an hour, riding the bike remains cheaper than riding the métro. And if you return your bike before 30 minutes is up, then wait two minutes, you can take out another bike, starting another 30-minute cycle. You could basically ride all day for nothing more than what it cost to buy the day-, week-, or month-pass! At the bike stands, of which there are roughly 1,450 all around the city and its suburbs (one every 1000 ft.), most people get their bikes by tapping their Passe Navigo (connected to pre-registered accounts) against a sensor that unlocks the specific bike you want. It's also possible to use a European bank card to get a day- or week-pass at the kiosks located in the middle of each bike stand. Once you've taken a bike, you can return it at any station, so you're free to make a series of one-way trips if you like.

I am a huge, huge fan of Vélib. That said, the system has its shortcomings. On the hilly outskirts of the city (especially Belleville), bikes are in short supply, as people ride them to the center of the city then take the métro back. (For the record, I almost always bring my bike back. I am a good person.) Lots of bikes have also been stolen, although it's hard to believe anyone would steal such a heavy, dorky-looking ride. Another big problem is defective bikes: vandalism has taken its toll, as has wear and tear. Still, as long as you're willing to put in a little effort to find a bike in good, working order, the benefits are much greater than the challenges. 

I'm getting exercise, saving money on métro passes and tickets, learning the city's geography and enjoying its stunning architecture and vibrant street culture, all while getting wherever it is that I need to go. Again, I ask: Will you ride with me?

Random Exhibitions at the Hotel de Ville

Twice during Robert's visit, we walked by the Hotel de Ville on our way to the métro, only to be distracted by various events taking place in the adjacent square.

The second time (for which I have no pictures), there was an exhibition of what the French call "handisports," or what we might call paralympic events: wheelchair tennis, fencing, bowling, and racing were just some of the activities going on. I think the idea was to get handisport athletes to show off their stuff, and also to give non-handisport athletes the opportunity to try something new - and maybe gain some empathy (however useless that may be for US Supreme Court nominees... sorry.) for differently-abled people.

The first time we walked by, there was a show of electric vehicles for Paris's "mobility" week. We saw some crazy thingamabobs:

I really, really, really hope this stuff takes off, despite how awkward it all looks.

Bicycles!

You may or may not know that Maggie and I love bicycles. They're fun to ride, they're cheaper than most other forms of transportation, they're good for the environment, and they're good for our health. So it was with great pleasure that I saw a sign advertising a Critical Mass event a few weeks ago: http://22septembre.org/. (The message on the website reads, "Coincidence! We all just happen to meet while riding our bikes around the Arc de Triomphe on September 22nd, formerly "car-free day." Unannounced cyclist objective: insert yourself into and ride around the rotary without blocking traffic. If a traffic jam should occur, extricate yourself and leave.")

Last Tuesday, I went with Robert (he may have left Paris, but he hasn't left my heart) to the Arc de Triomphe to witness what can only be described as a flash-mob of cyclists. At 6:30 pm, at the height of l'heure de point (rush hour), hundreds of cyclists materialized in the rotary that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe and clumped together as they rode around and around, forcing automobile drivers to cede space and pay attention. It was glorious.

One of my favorite things

Yesterday, Louis mentioned Velib', Paris' extra-awesome bike-sharing program. Today, I'm going to show/tell you more about it!

This is a photo (above) of a Velib' pick-up/drop-off area at night. This picture was taken just as Paris was rolling out the bike sharing system (15 July 2007, according to Wikipedia). Clearly, the program was a huge success - at this station, ALL the bikes were out and about.

Because we were visiting Paris just as the bikes were being let loose, we often saw trucks full of eager bikes heading to all corners of the city. 

Velib' has certainly caught the attention of folks in other major cities around the world. Just after the launch, Agnes Poirier of The Guardian (UK) mused: "What the philosopher Roland Barthes described as the true epic dimension of cycling can now be experienced by millions of ordinary citizens living in the same city. Setting a different pace of living, these riders create a new harmony, smoothing the rough edges of modernity, taming the flow of the polluting cars around them."

I'm not sure that Parisian drivers can be tamed by anything, but I'm looking forward to riding the streets of Paris on my very own shared bike.