Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris has rejected bright yellow, blood red and apple green (the latter because it is the trade mark of Velorution Rent-a-Folder service 
) and has settled for a grey which will highlight the colourful logo. The name short and catchy: Velib. Three speed, a large front basket, a dress guard, but the weight, 22.4 kg, will put Montremartre off the map.
Decaux has promised to install 1420 hiring spots, with a total of 14000 bicycles. After subscribing (€1 for a day, €29 for one year) one can pick up a bike and use it for half an hour for free. If one keeps it longer the meter starts to charge one’s credit card, geometrically (€3 for 1.5 hour, but €11 for 2.5 hours).
The key to the success is the density of the pick up / drop off points. The plan is for one every 400m, but will Decaux deliver?
More info here
There is already a very similar network in Brussels, and we tested the bikes on the Bike Show last year:
http://thebikeshow.net/2006/12/04/4-december-2006-sur-le-pave-in-brussels/
Nevermind the weight of the things, it’s the solid tyres that ultimately sapped our morale. But not bad for half an hour, as an alternative to the Metro.
In Lyon, where the same bicycle system is in place (Cyclocity), the bicycle have air filled tyres. I guess it will be the case in Paris too.
Brussels is also a Cyclocity system, and they definitely had solid tyres. Ouch!
this story has received great press here in the states
but
it is unlikely that the nimrods in this country would consider parking their Hummer and getting on a bicycle
as said
people suck
Andrea
Worth reviewing the latest OYBike nearest hire point Euston Road Novotel and checking out for weight & performance. The OYBike has been refined over the past 4 years and the lates models have drum brakes, Dutch heavy duty pneumatic tyres, and other detail refinements. The hire points take 10 minutes to install – they require no wiring or major street works, and the 3-port units can be organically spread around a neighbourhood. In the UK the system qualifies as a pool bike leasing option for the workplace cycling tax rebate available to employers, and a hire-point with 2 bikes and 5000 minutes of paid hire time (in addition to the first 30 minutes free for every hire) costs £100 per month. Bikes cost substantially less than the £650 indicated by the report on Velib in Washington Post.
By contrast the Decaux system requires wiring in and a minimum of 15 bikes per hire point, and a couple of hundred bikes in any system. The Paris scheme requires the city to give Decaux the income from 1,800 on street advertising panels – in London the owners % for these is around £1000/year for each panel in a busy station or on a bus shelter. Sadder is the fate of the long established Roue Libre bike hire scheme, supported by RATP (TfL for Paris) which would appear to be unable to continue with its hire points at stations and at weekends the Roue Libre buses that take 60 bikes and operate from public parks, if the Decaux scheme goes ahead. Does anyone have more info on Roue Libre?
OYbikes are now linked to Park Royal Estates – with hire points at several stations, and the Hammersmith & Fulham scheme has one user who saves the hassle & time of canging trains at Earls Court when travelling from Wimbledon to Hammersmith – by getting off at Putney Bridge and riding through the nicer parts of Fulham.
Immediately popular was the recent installation for the University of East London, where bikes were hired at midnight on the day of installation, a week before the official launch (bike hire is available 24/7 with the system). With hire points at Stratford Station, and Gallions Reach (by Olympic Regatta site), OYBike is perhaps providing the first bit of infrastructure for London 2012, in a pre-event rather than a legacy scheme.
The biggest delays in delivering the scheme have been in getting the rail operators permission to install the key hire points convenient for catching a train – several schemes are not realising the full potential because a rail operator refuses to even discuss the idea – and the Park Royal scheme took 18 months to deliver the rail element.
Maybe the Paris story will spur on a little more action. If you have LBC listen again, hear the interview with Jim Davis on Wednesday 18th at 13.15 on FM.
Has read with the pleasure, very interesting post, write still, good luck to you!