Paris is for lovers: lovers of food and art and wine, lovers of the romantic sort and, starting this summer, lovers of bicycles.
"We think it could change Paris's image -- make it quieter, less polluted, with a nicer atmosphere, a better way of life."
"It's faster than the bus, it's good exercise, and it's almost free," The rental bikes four or five times a day and pays 10 euros (about $13) a year!
In Lyon, according to deputy mayor Touraine, the city's 3,000 rental bikes have logged about 10 million miles since the program started in May 2005, saving an estimated 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being spewed into the air. Overall, vehicle traffic in the city is down 4 percent, he said, and bicycle use has tripled, not just on account of Cyclocity, but also because the program has prompted a boom in private bicycle use and sales.
NOT A NEW IDEA - The Cyclocity concept evolved from utopian "bike-sharing" ideas that were tried in Europe in the 1960s and '70s, usually modeled on Amsterdam's famous "white bicycle" plan, in which idealistic hippies repaired scores of bicycles, painted them white, and left them on the streets for anyone to use for free. But in the end, the bikes were stolen and became too beat-up to ride.
