‘I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike’ sang Queen frontman, Freddy Mercury. And if he wasn’t like a dead rock guy and lived in modern day Paris, then his dream could come true.
From July over 20,000 bicycles will be made available for hire across the city. From as little as €1 Parisians will be able to don a beret, a stripy shirt and a string of onions around the neck (please run this through our anti-racist department. Ed.) before circumnavigating Europe’s most romantic city.
After registering for the scheme and handing over their credit card details, cyclists will be free to jump on one of the elegant two-wheelers at any of the 1,450 pick up points, which by the end of the year will be visible every 250 yards in the city centre.
What’s more the bikes can be returned to any other pick up station, thus reducing the hire time and the need to lock up at the rider’s destination.
The scheme was first piloted in 2005 across Lyon, France’s third biggest city. Jean-Louis Touraine, the city’s deputy mayor, said of the initiative: “It has completely transformed the landscape of Lyon… everywhere you see people on the bikes.”
Ken Livingstone take note.
if everyone cycle to work would save tons of CO2. go on my website
Comment by mark payne — March 27, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
what’s y’er website?
Comment by Andy — March 27, 2007 @ 3:09 pm