July 17, 2007

My Velib Experience

Sunday, July 15 was the official launch of Velib, the new bicycle rental service. Velib, which means free bike, has over 750 automated bike stations with over 10,000 bikes all around Paris. Every few blocks or so there is a station with about 20 shiny new bikes in a row practically saying “Rent Me”.

Always being first to try new things, a friend and I decided to check it out. It was hot and sunny, a perfect day for a bike ride after the rainy cold weather we had the last few weeks. We chose the station on Vielle du Temple in the Marais. There was a bit of a line and the process was slow as people were trying to figure out the system. When it was our turn, we found out that the machine was complicated and not user friendly. After about 15 minutes of fumbling with our credit card and entering pass codes, etc, we received our bicycles.

The bicycles are very well designed and are a creamy, shiny dark taupe with the colorful Velib logo on the side. They are sturdy but heavy and have useful features like a bell, a front basket, and 3 gears. The ride was smooth and solid.

After about an hour, realizing we were not exactly Tour de France material, we decided it was too hot to continue riding, and wanted to return our bikes. This is where the fun/nightmare began. We were near the Bastille and the first two stations were full, as there were no slots to put the bikes in and the third one was not in operation yet. We finally found one with empty slots, but the hole where you were supposed to lock in the bikes was blocked. At this point I was practically screaming that this was too much work and that they could keep my 150 Euro deposit and I’ll just keep the God Damn bike. Two nice guys in back of us told us there was another stand around the corner. After 35 minutes of frustration, we were able to successfully return them.

Overheated, aggravated and exhausted we decided Velib was not for us.

I’m not trying to discourage anyone and it’s probably much easier once you know how. Try it and let me know your experience.

Velib
For more info click here

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about including small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

July 17, 2007 in Parks, Gardens,Outdoors | Permalink

Tags: Paris bike rentals, Velib

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