I travel to paris for a week in november. i read about a paris bike rental system. I found the web site but do not read french. how does it work? how much? are bikes safe? can i lock up when i do not ride? can i do something now to prepare to rent them? seems to have a card i can get now maybe but don't undrstand the french stuff well.
Paris - 6 Answers
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1 :
I've read about it too... I think you sign up for a card and you can get a bike from one of the many stations in Paris... basically, you ride around and drop it off any station. I think the system is called "Velis" or something like that. You might need to check out the system more, I think its designed with city residents in mind, although you should be able to find rental places that cater to tourists.
2 :
I haven't tried it yet since it just started. The idea is simple. You buy a pass for a day a week, a month or even a year. The you just take a bike from any of the stands and return it to another when you get where you are going. The rates are set in such a way that you shouldn't just keep the bike all day but return it at the end of each trip. Apparently there is some sort of computer monitoring of each bike to know how long it is in use.
3 :
Just an anecdote heard on the French news tonite ; the system is indeed very popular in Paris but parisians use the bike rental mainly for going down hill and because most people do this, there is not enough room to leave your bike there as it is full !! and there are no bikes left at the places uphill !! So the speaker on the news asked people to be courageous and climb up hill ! lol :-) bon courage !
4 :
Hey, Guillermo--first, thanks for the 10 points, dude! Second, most of those french sites can be translated into english, if you try. Below are three sites (english) about the bikes and how it works. Enjoy your trip to Paris and have the best time ever!! Everything there is great, including the people.
5 :
i just got from paris and i saw the rental systems, although i didn't rent a bike, it seemed very simple. there is this little thing that looks somewhat like an atm, you stick your credit card or cash in it and they unlock a bike that's lined up next to it. you don't need to notify anyone that you want a bike, because it's all run mostly be machine and you just walk up to one of the places and grab a bike, and there are rental places every few blocks.
6 :
Hi. The service started on July 15. I've ridden the bikes several times since then. I took some pictures and put some basic practical info on my flickr site: This link says it all: http://www.flickr.com/photos/austinevan/887339707/ Yes, you can lock them up. They have a lock attached to the frame that you can loop around stuff. You can just pay with your credit card at the station but the coolest and easiest way is to obtain a navigo card before you arrive (www.navigo.fr), then link the navigo with a velib account (www.velib.fr). It's a bit complicated doing this (have to send 29 euros to Velib outside Paris) but the result is being able to just press your Navigo card on the bike stand and ride away! Then you don't have to mess with the interface (which is only in french still - though there are links to english but it still does not work; only displays the french). if you want, send me an ID-type photo of yourself and i will appy online and get it for you! (I've done it twice; once for myself and once for my daughter). You can also use the same navigo card on the metro and buses! (very cool system here). You can use my address in Paris and I'll mail it to you when it arrives. Also, if you are looking for a vacation rental I can help there too as I can refer you to 3 properties I have contacts with here in Paris (I own one of them). The french translation sites don't really work. You can get the gist of a web site but you won't be able to understand the actual process to do something. Better to find someone that reads french! Someday these type of sites will work well but for now they are horrible. Have fun riding and visiting France.
