Please pedal, says Paris mayor

If you have been in Paris lately, you will have noticed men digging up strips of street in hundreds of different places around the city. The spots are docking stations for the bicycles that from next month are supposed to transform the way that Parisians and visitors get around.

Mayor Betrand Delanoe is following Lyon, Amsterdam and other cities around the world in providing convenient bike-rental to get people out of cars, limit pollution and impose a little civility on the traffic. Paris being Paris, the scheme, is on a grand scale and will make news. 

The idea of the Vélib' -- a contraction of 'bike freedom' in French -- is attractive.

[pictures: Marc Verhille, Mairie de Paris]

For next to nothing, you can pick up a three-speed bike at 1,400 stations, all spaced no more than 300 metres apart and drop it off anywhere. By the end of the year there will be 20,600 Vélib bikes in circulation. For a tiny registration fee, you get to use them at no charge for the first 30 minutes.

Bicycles makes sense in Paris, at least in the fair weather months, because the city has only one real hill and is compact compared with, say London or Berlin. The trouble of course is Paris traffic. Delanoe has been trying to slow the flow and tame the gladiatorial behaviour of Paris drivers by building with hundreds of kilometres of bus and bike lanes. But pedalling around the city remains stressful. I take my bike out at weekends and head for the relative peace of the Bois de Boulogne, but it means combat with always impatient Parisian drivers for the first kilometre.

Some biking friends swear that pedalling is no more dangerous here than other big cities and that habits are changing. This week, two ministers swapped their limousines for bicycles to attend a cabinet meeting with President Sarkozy in the Elysee Palace. One was Alain Juppé, the deputy Prime Minister who heads President Sarkozy's new super-ministry of the environment, transport and sustainable development. But still, a relatively meagre 40,000 out of 2.5 million residents use bicycles daily.

Delanoe, who has been trying to give the city a festive, funky side, hopes that his self-service vélos will turn 250,000 people into regulars by the end of the year. Previewing the system on Tuesday, he said bicycles would give Parisians a new sense of "pleasure, freedom, innovation and performance".

Céline Lepault, head of the scheme, said:  "We want to shake up people's mentalities. People tell us that they love to bicycle but in the country, not the city. We want them to realise the huge advantages that it brings in a place like Paris in terms of time-savings, health, environment and lifestyle."

Since Parisians like griping about everything, the Velib' scheme has had its quota of criticism. Why, riders wonder, did the city go for clunky machines that weigh an amazing 22 kilogrammes (48 pounds) -- more than those stately bikes that pedal along Dutch canals?  Don't even think about trying to get up to Montmartre on one, a man in the bicycle shop told me.

And on the safety side, some say, Delanoe should have ordered a visible colour instead of the metallic grey that he picked to blend with his elegant city. And what about helmets, safety-conscious northerners will ask ? They are recommended by the city, but unlikely to be worn. Helmets are not chic, as you can tell when you see very soignée women pedalling hatless into the maelstrom of the Etoile or across the Place de la Concorde.

The Vélib safety guide also recommends that cyclists obey red lights, one-way streets and stay off pavements -- habits that have yet to be adopted by Parisian cyclists.

Few are criticising the cost since it is born entirely by JC Decaux, the urban advertising giant which is supplying the system in return for space on 1,600 new hoardings around the city.

I hope it works. The Times has signed up for the 29 euros a year card that you swipe for an almost free vélo. I'll report back in a month. 

Comments

[rocket]

C'est un double entendre ce titre Charles?
[It wasn't meant to be, but I realised it was after writing it. Please don't spell it out: CB]

[Proteos]

22kg is really heavy. A normal bicycle weighs about 15kg.
And that means it is difficult to go forward when the road goes up, which happens in Paris, as there are more than one hill in Paris for the standard guy that does not take EPO.

The ridings habits are difficult to change:
- cyclists ride on pavements because the drivers are too close of the right side of the street, and any biker cannot pass easily.
- cyclists do not obey one-way street because it might shorten a lot their way. By the way, some of these one-way streets have been made 2-way for the bikers.
- cyclists do not obey red lights... Well, that depends which ones: the dangerous ones are often obeyed. But when you only have to look on one side, it's tempting and you don't have to restart after stopping, which means less effort.

[jorgandersen]

The best thing about these bike rental schemes is that you don't have to worry about parking them and getting them stolen. Maybe all these bicycles will tame the Paris drivers. I has worked in other cities. And I see that you still managed to get Mr Sarkozy into the story Mr Bremner!

[ricky]

As a Frenchman I can't help but find the title for this post quite amusing, but then again it's probably just me having "l'esprit mal placé"...

[D.Strohl]

Formerly, the vélo was nicknamed "la petite reine".

During WW II, the "Parisiens" had vélo taxis - i.e. a kind of (Gallic) rickshaw. - at their disposal.

[richard jones]

Geneva went pédalo a while ago. They have always been more ecologically inclined anyway.
They did some smart things like pavement - cycle lane - car parking lane - road. This protected the cyclist. They also had a set of severe fines for cyclo-abuse - eg, riding on pavement, red lights etc., altho' they did bend one way street rules which with the above 'protection' system worked OK. They also 'dipped' pavements at the corners so electric handicapped wheelchairs could use the cycle lane. Les véloistes got really pissed off with that.

[Steve NL]

Those bicycles are even clunkier than our two-wheelers in Holland. That's surely not right for the "City of Light".

[Edward Johns]

Firstly, purely in the interests of improving my French linguistic skills, will someone please help with the meaning of the title ? It might be smutty, I hate the thought of missing something though!
Secondly, what a good idea the cycling is, less fumes, less klaxon (hopefully) and less "motormania"
As for going to Montmartre on a bike, what's wrong with the funicular? Perhaps a bike rack could be arranged !

[Emmanuel]

Indeed using the double meaning of "pédale" in French and associating with Mr Delanoë (Paris Mayor) makes this title a pretty amusing and unconcious joke.

[Marguerite]

Il est drole et mechant, votre titre !
Hier j'ai pris un taxi dont le conducteur fulminait contre les velos. Il disait, entre autres, que les personnes qui faisaient du velo ne respectaient pas le code de la route, ne s'arretaient pas au feu rouge, prenaient les sens interdits et lui faisaient un bras d'honneur qund il leur faisait des remontrances...ce qui le blessait au plus haut point. Mais aussi qu'en cas d'accident, c'est l'automobiliste qui est responsable et donc considere comme fautif, meme si c'est la personne a velo qui a commis l'erreur.

[rocket]

flash 20h

Socialists français la seule parti politique au monde qui peut feter une defaite.

[rocket]

Flash: 22:17

Segolène Royal qui a la bougeotte de prendre la controle du PS (dans un style digne des bolcheviques: elle a au moins attendue 2 heures 17 mins après l'expiration de son obligation electorale envers son "partenaire" et la nation) annonce qu'elle a rompu avec son partenaire de belle lurette. Cela fait belle lurette que l'on savait mais qu'aucun journal n'a osé parlé.

elle promets de ne lui pas mettre les batons dans les roues avant l'espiration de son mandat en tant que chef de parti socialo.

May I ask " what about "les croques en jambe?"

Yes messieursdames, High drama in France tonight. Digne d'un bon feuilleton americain.

Did someone say american! Ugh!

d'un autre registre, les communistes se montre menacants à la télé envers la majorité avec leur 5% de representation à l'assemblée et Bayrou avec son 0,00000001% se promène en victorieux.

Why do I think we are already back to the future?

[D.Strohl]

ROCKET,

Oui, ils se voient déjà sur orbite !

[Valentin]

"flash 20h"

200 sièges, c'est effectivement pas mal pour un parti ayant "battre la droite" et "non à la concentration des pouvoirs" comme unique programme politique.

Sinon le score de la Droite, entre 57% et 60%, marque une victoire encore plus claire que celle des présidentielles.

[john]

I couldn't help chuckling when I read that bicycles make sense in Paris because supposedly the city is compact compared with London or Berlin. What Charles Bremner is actually referring to here is the City of Paris, or "intra-muros" as the Parisians call it, which is really just like the central borough of Greater Paris. For the information of readers here, only 18% of Parisians live in this "intra-muros". 82% of Parisians, including Nicolas Sarkozy before he moved to the Elysée Palace, live in the so-called "banlieue" which is outside of Mr. Delanoë's jurisdiction thanks to administrative borders unchanged since 1859!

Paris is not a compact city at all. In fact Greater Paris sprawls as much as Greater London, and certainly much much more than Berlin. In 2003 the statistical office INSEE estimated that a majority of people in Greater Paris travel more than 11.6 km (7.2 miles) to go to work (this figure is actually an underestimate for reasons that would be too long to explain). So biking is definitely not an option, fair weather or not.

If foreign readers want to understand this a bit better, it's basically as if Mr. Delanoë was the mayor of Manhattan and he was trying to get Manhattan residents to use bikes, arguing that it would reduce car use and decrease pollution. As if getting Manhattan residents to use bikes was going to change anything to the much wider problem of transportation in the New York-New Jersey metro area. Yeah right!

That's exactly what's happening in Paris. Mr. Delanoë, mayor of just the "intra-muros", puts in place fashionable transport policies that attract media attention (Mr Bremner's article is typical), but which in practice have almost no effect on transportation and pollution in the sprawling Greater Paris. Just another stat: in 2006 there were a whopping 5,885,180 cars and vans in Greater Paris. Only 838,069 of these belonged to residents living in Mr Delanoë's jurisdiction. These figures say it all.

Instead of implementing "mediatic" transport policies that attract the attention of the press but have very little effect in fighting against traffic pollution in Greater Paris, Mr. Delanoë would do much more for the environment if he was earnestly pushing for the creation of a political Greater Paris that could finally implement meaningful transport policies agglomeration-wide. Greater New York (i.e. the current NYC) was created in 1898 by merging Manhattan with the other boroughs; Greater Berlin (i.e. the current city-state of Berlin) was created in 1920; Greater London was created in 1965. When will Greater Paris finally be created?

Unfortunately, Mr. Delanoë is opposed to the creation of a Greater Paris, he has repeatedly said it. Beyond the grand ethical reasons for his opposition (the "banlieue" should have its independent identity respected bla bla bla), the real reason is that the centre-right UMP would have the majority in a Greater Paris. And so Mr. Delanoë prefers to keep his tiny left-leaning "intra-muros" frozen in its 1859 borders, no matter how irrelevant these borders have become today. Note that, exactly for the same reasons, "intra-muros" mayor Jacques Chirac was opposed to the creation of a Greater Paris when the "intra-muros" was right-leaning and the "banlieue" was largely communist.

I know more and more Parisians who are fed up with this situation and who want the political Paris to finally correspond to the Greater Paris experienced by people in their daily lives. There are several blogs which discuss this issue for those who want to find out more about this. Anyway, I hope this helps put Mr. Bremner's article into context.

[marine]

"In 2003 the statistical office INSEE estimated that a majority of people in Greater Paris travel more than 11.6 km (7.2 miles) to go to work (this figure is actually an underestimate for reasons that would be too long to explain)."

True, many people may travel more than that. But are parisians that lazy?
When I lived in Holland I used to bike 15 km in the morning, 15 km in the evening, every working day, every season. Ok, after 3 months you're really fit and don't need to pay for the gymnasium. But is that a bad consequence?

Ok, Dutch cycling path are quite good quality (but some are old, bumpy, and they can be dangerous when you share them with motorcycles). I don't see why the French could not do, at least, half as well as the Dutch.

John, thanks for highlighting a typical French administrative problem. Too many small administrative territories, with too many administrative structures. Why don't we reduce the number these artificial territories? Because our representatives do not want to suffer drom a decrease of the number of electoral seats available in this country.

[Dominique]

Yep, time for enlarging the city! It has always been the case since Lutèce. It should now inlude the faubourgs (better know as "les banlieues").

[sally tisserand]

double entendre is English and strange but true not French

[richard jones]

Double entendre. That's like déjà vu, right, but with the ears.

[Brett]

A great idea. The benefits of such a program would include increased fitness and reduced pollution. These are good for everyone.

A similar program was offered in Charlottesville, VA. Apparently bikes were generally unused or stolen. I hope the Parisians decide to embrace the new program.

[Sandrine]

"flash 20h

Socialists français la seule parti politique au monde qui peut feter une defaite."

Moi je dirais : l'UMP le seul parti politique au monde qui peut faire la tronche (voire pleurer de rage) un soir de victoire ! haha !

La déclaration de Juppé au milieu de supporters socialistes était folklo aussi !!!!

[isobel]

In answer to Edward Johns' question
"As for going to Montmartre on a bike, what's wrong with the funicular? " - unfortunately Edward the funicular has been out of action since December , apparently it might reopen some time in the summer.

[Edward Johns]

"In answer to Edward Johns' question
"As for going to Montmartre on a bike, what's wrong with the funicular? " - unfortunately Edward the funicular has been out of action since December , apparently it might reopen some time in the summer."
Thanks for that Isobel. Maybe some TGV style financial input will get it going again. I wonder how fast the engineers could make it go ! And how many photo-opportunities the politicians could have cutting ribbons for it!

[teresa]

going downhill in Montmarte would be kind of fun! (...sorry i had to)

[Geoffrey Cox]

I can remember the introduction of Parisian green cycle paths in the 80's.
They remained in place long after people stopped using them. They met the same fate as the designated smoking areas in restaurants that were introduced later - there seemed to be no point in using them.

[Helen]

What happens if you take a bike from point A, then get to point B, and it's full? Are you supposed to cycle around looking for another, not full one? In that case, your half hour might be up and you'd have to pay the extra money...

It is an excellent idea though, and I hope it works. I for one will be encouraged to get out and about more. And maybe get to know Paris better geographically, instead of constantly wondering what the nearest metro station is!

[Patrick Emin]

Souhaitons que l'arrivée massive des 10000 Vélib se passe sans anicroche. On peut tout de même regretter le peu d'information sur l'emplacement des stations. Voici des cartes qui vous aideront à vous déplacer dans les premières semaines du lancement: http://minilien.com/?Cign4b2CRS