Owning a bike in Paris is quite difficult. They get stolen all the time and they are difficult to store in small appartements.
Luckily we have the velib, by far my favorite form of transportation.
Meaning: The word Velib is a combination of Velo meaning bike and libre meaning freedom. So that pretty much sums it up as freedom bike, which is pretty much what it is.
Concept: You can pick up a bike anywhere in paris from a velib stand. Then you ride it wherever, and drop it off at another stand.
Price: It is almost free. I think you pay about 30 euros a year for this service. You have membership which is on your metro card. And you just tap the card on the bike stand to rent out a bike. Super easy and efficient.
Problems: I live at the top of the hill. People are lazy and only ride the bikes downhill. So you end up having all the bike stands in the low parts of paris being filled and all the high parts empty. This kind of ruins the service because it stops the constant flow of bikes. The solution they have is each night they truck the bikes from the low parts to the high parts. It is too bad that people don't "pay it forward" by trying to have an equal amount of downhill rides as uphills. But sadly this is not a perfect world... For me, I really don't mind uphills and take them as challenges, so i only end up going uphill, and just take the metro downhill.
Safety: Also safety is also a bit of a problem. The streets are filled with angry taxi drivers, crazy bus drivers, and pizza delivery scooters. So you need to have a high level of fearless bike skillz before you hit the streets on a velib. A few people bring helmets for when they ride but this is very uncommon.
Tips: When picking a bike at a stand, make sure the tires are well pumped up and that the chain is still attached. There is nothing worse than renting a broken bike. Been there, done that, never falling in that trap again.
Tips: Lose the gym membership and velib everywhere instead. You will be a happy camper.
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