Fri
Aug 3 2007
05:18 pm
A short report on a good French idea and bicycles
By: Carole Borges

Last night around midnight Marelle and I noticed a
long rack of brand new bikes lit up with lit green
lights. Our hosts explained this is a new thing this
month in the city. Every neighborhood has a big rack
of these new bikes. You just insert your visa card and
the bike unlocks 24/7. You can then ride anywhere in
Paris for 30 minutes for free! If you need more than
30 minutes and do not want to pay four euros an hour
additionally, you simply check in the bike you have
and check out another and you are good for another 30
minutes. Theoretically you can do this all day and
ride for free! The whole thing is computer monitored
and if too many bikes are left at one place a truck
comes by and redistributes them around the city. The
bikes are all equipped with night-lights and baskets
for shopping!

(link...)

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Socialist With A Gold Card's picture

Copenhagen

Submitted by Socialist With ... on Fri, 2007/08/03 - 6:06pm.

Copenhagen has a similar program, but without the time limit. It's free, but you use a credit card to unlock the bike (just in case you try to do something silly like steal it). The program is wildly successful, it reduces traffic and pollution, and it's a much better way to see the sights.

I bet the experiment in Paris will work out the same way.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

"I'm a socialist with a gold card. I firmly believe we need a revolution; I'm just concerned that I won't be able to get good moisturizer afterwards." -- Brett Butler

Hayduke's picture

I really liked the

Submitted by Hayduke on Fri, 2007/08/03 - 10:50pm.

I really liked the Copenhagen bikes. You slide a coin worth about $3 (another good idea) into a slot on the handlebars and it unlocks the chain. Ride around until you're done with it and then find a rack, pop the chain back in and your coin falls out. If you don't put it back in the rack someone will turn it back in for the $3.

The bikes are built by prisoners to a completely non-standard design so that nothing on the bike was worth stealing as it wouldn't fit anything else.

My only problem with them was maintenance. Sometimes I had to try a few bikes to get one without a major problem. There ought to be (and may be is by now) a way for a rider to flag an injured bike.

Brian A.'s picture

Good idea

Submitted by Brian A. on Sat, 2007/08/04 - 1:10am.

especially if it works as advertised. Seems like it would be a bit messy to manage.

Sadly, it's not really practical to try something like that here.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Carole Borges's picture

You said, "Sadly, it's not

Submitted by Carole Borges on Sat, 2007/08/04 - 7:09am.

You said, "Sadly, it's not really practical to try something like that here."

Why not, Brian?

Brian A.'s picture

Why not, Brian? There's not

Submitted by Brian A. on Sat, 2007/08/04 - 9:49pm.

Why not, Brian?

There's not that many non-residential areas in Knoxville where the average person would feel comfortable riding on the roads. That's one of the reasons you don't see many cyclist commuters here.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

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