Recently I read an article in the New York Times about Velib, a bike-sharing program in Paris. People can rent bikes for a small fee, and they do not need to be left where they came from but can be left at any of a wide variety of stations throughout the city. Thus you can, for example, get on a bike for one's morning commute, leave it at a "station" near work, and then use a different bike to go home; you only pay for, say, the half-hour in the morning and the half-hour in the evening. (Actually, trips less than a half-hour are free; I'm not sure whether this is because the program is supported by tax dollars, or if they make enough money on people taking more than half an hour that they can afford this and still expect to make a profit.) This is different from most of the car-sharing companies which require you to bring the car back where you got it.
The New York Times article (July 10) isn't accessible unless you have Times Select. The Velib web site (http://www.velib.paris.fr/comment_ca_marche/faq__1) does a decent job of explaining it, I think, although it's (surprise!) in French. (I'm actually a bit surprised there's no English translation, because if I remember correctly the NYT article said that they wanted to market it to tourists as well as locals.) Anyway, what I'm wondering is -- is there some obvious reason this wouldn't work in, say, Philadelphia? I'm always seeing people on bikes here. I'd sign up. I don't have a bike and don't want to deal with the hassle of having to keep it somewhere (small apartment), maintain it, etc., but often I find myself wishing I had one. Isabel ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
