Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Vélib

How Happy Are Parisians With Vélib?

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  The latest figures from the Paris Vélib bike sharing program are in. User stats and survey results are posted on the official web site, but for those who don’t parlez Français, here’s a summary: Rides to date: 20 million Average trips/day: 70,000 Average trip time: 18 minutes 190,000 annual pass holders 42% of users […]

How Paris is Beating Traffic Without Congestion Pricing

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Biking by the Seine during car-free hours on the Georges Pompidou Expressway. The mayor of a global metropolis, elected to his first term in 2001, set out to reduce driving and promote greener modes of transportation in his city. Congestion pricing turned out to be unfeasible, because influential political forces in the suburbs believed, rightly […]

Bike-Share Update: DC First Out of the Gate

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On Wednesday Streetsblog declared Portland the leader in the race to launch a public bike-share program here in America. But as reader Chris Loos pointed out, a bike-share system in Washington is actually imminent. "DC SmartBike" will launch as a pilot program in the coming weeks with 120 bikes at 10 stations, available for an […]

Bike-Share Rumors: Portland Leading the Pack

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Bike-sharing in Lyon, France Bike-share programs are a very hot topic at the Bike Summit. Everyone is aware of how Velib has led to a huge spike in bike ridership in Paris, and they’re wondering which U.S. city will be the first to replicate that success. Based on the Q&A session at one panel, "Bicycling […]

2008: Year of the Bicycle?

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Ahead of this week’s National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, syndicated columnist Neal Peirce wonders if 2008 will be "bicycling’s best year since the start of the auto age." He writes about developments promoting the bicycle as a legitimate form of transportation around the world, many of which have been featured right here on Streetsblog: […]

City’s First Bike Share Planned for Governors Island

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It ain’t the Velib, but yesterday it was announced that Dutch team West 8 would design a 40-acre park for Governors Island, which will include a fleet of 3,000 wooden bicycles free for use by island visitors. The Times reports: The design, commissioned by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, calls for transforming much […]