Community | August 03, 2009 | 11 comments

Rental Bikes In Paris Prove Popular With Vandals

source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111487751

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atomiclegion
An ambitious public-bike-rental scheme called Velib is celebrating its second anniversary this month in Paris. While the bikes have transformed the city, they've also proven to be as popular with vandals as they are with commuters.

There's no doubt about it, Parisians have taken to Velib. In just two years the chunky gray bikes have been used for more than 50 million trips and have become a part of the cityscape. As many as 20,000 of them now flood the streets of Paris. The first half-hour's rental is free and the charges are reasonable after that. Users can take a bike and return it at any of the city's 1,000 bike stations.
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    Community,   Green,   Current Tonight,   Bike,   3 more
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    News,  Green,  World News,  Current Tonight,  2 more
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11 comments // Rental Bikes In Paris Prove Popular With Vandals

  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • I think bicycling is better for the community . I live in a small town . I make more friends , because I am accessible to people . Public transportation all the way .

    • 2 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
    • 0
      SHAWN_RITTIMAN  

    • Bike loans and rentals rock! You see everything that you miss out on when enclosed in a car! Check out my bike vid

      posts and watch some real mayhem! Riding is a real rush!

    • 2 years ago
  • patrickpants
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
    • 0
      SHAWN_RITTIMAN  

    • These systems are awesome....it is a shame that ignorance leads folks to damage these. In Ashland Oregon near where I live, they run a free community bike loaner program that runs on donations. Sadly vandals ruin many of those too. I am obsessed with bikes and realize they deserve my utmost respect.

    • 2 years ago
  • excentrix
  • electricsquiral
    • 0
      electricsquiral  

    • I saw an episode of "Stuff Happens" where some university did a study on the effects of bicycles on the environment. They concluded that they increase carbon pollution by making people healthier and live longer. the reasoning is that people who live longer will produce a higher population and therefore produce more pollution in total while per capita pollution will be lower.

      I think they assume too much, or too little.

    • 2 years ago
  • excentrix
    • 0
      excentrix  

    • Saw them last year in Paris and thinking of trying them in Montreal. All big cities should do it! Definitely a great way to be eco-tourist!

    • 2 years ago
  • masterzip
  • krispychicken
    • 0
      krispychicken  

    • They launched a similar program in Montreal, QC in May called Bixi. It's such a smart idea and it works well although they've also had some theft and vandalism issues. It's too bad that people feel the need to ruin it for others by breaking, stealing or graffiting the bikes. Especially since it's such a good initiative to reduce car pollution and traffic and to get people more physically fit.

    • 2 years ago
  • larrysnotes
  • HeroMAY
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