One Way to go

In July, the city of Paris followed a tradition that began in Lyon to put 10,000 bicycles at 750 points around the city for people to use. It's called Velib. With a mere swipe of your credit card you can rent a bicycle for a short trip. Bicycles come equipped with a basket to hold your supplies, a lock, generator-operated light, reflectors and 3 gears! Use requires getting an inexpensive access card that provides 30 minutes of free time. After that, the cost is about E 2 per hour. The goal is to enocourage bike riding for short distances. You can pick-up and return the bicycles at any station. There are regular maintenance checks to keep things in order. There is a service that cruises the locations and checks tires and cleans the bikes. So far, it seems to be a hit with tourists and the general population. We see them eveywhere in central Paris. The plan is to double the number of bikes and locations by year-end. I have trouble imagining anything like it in NY - the closest we have are Zip Cars!

Using typically Parisian logic, the applications for the access card are available at Metro stations an PASTRY SHOPS only at the moment.

Paul and I haven't tried them YET! But it's on Chris' agenda.