A VC - Latest Comments in Velib Is Awesome

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Dustin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:52:54 -0000

I was in Paris last weekend and saw these. I did not use one but thought they were a great idea. Barcelona has a similar system.

I did not know these were run by the city though. Interesting.

Each bike has a red or green light next to them, marking them as available/unavailable. I did not spend too much time looking into why these were there, but cannot figure out why a bike would not be available all the time.

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fredwilson — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:42:11 -0000

I wondered the same thing but honestly it doesn't matter. Velib is the best!

Re: Velib Is Awesome

peteonrails — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:13:21 -0000

I am always amused when I read about something on AVC or Om Malik's blog, then I see a NYT article on it a couple weeks later. Did you inspire this article?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008...

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fredwilson — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:21:05 -0000

Get two passes and ride together. Its more fun!

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Antman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:55:10 -0000

One of the benefits of a socialist gov. There is good in everything!

Sounds like a Boulder CO idea. I got 10 bucks Boulder has one in the next 24 months. I will be in Paris in the next 6 month, gotta give it some love. Will it fit Antlady on the handlebars? Gotta do the whole romantic thing. :)

Re: Velib Is Awesome

PKafka — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:30:29 -0000

Very jealous. Wanted to try this when I was there few months ago, but Velib didn't like my credit card. Don't see why people skeptical about this working in U.S. Credit card deposit ensures that you don't abuse it, and theft discouraged by fact that the bikes are so clearly identified with system - if you've got one, it's clearly stolen goods. My only concern was upkeep - who makes sure tires inflated, etc?

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fredwilson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:50:06 -0000

Thanks!

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fredwilson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:49:11 -0000

Lee we are loving it too. But Joanne is a bit worried about the ³safety²
of it. Did you and Flora ever have any situations where you felt unsafe on
the Velib?

Re: Velib Is Awesome

DavidCohen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:27:19 -0000

i think it would work great. the only thing is that it wouldn't work in my city (boulder) or cities like it. everybody has a bike already. ;-)

Re: Velib Is Awesome

BenParis — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:13:40 -0000

I don't know how much acquainted you are with the streets of Paris, and I don't want to sound too much of a city guide, but...You can easily start you journey from Centre Pompidou, and then take the "Rue des Francs Bourgeois" from the beginning towards Le Marais, the traffic isn't too bad usually. And then you can push the ride until the Place des Vosges, while you are doing some bicycle-window shopping along that street, and in all side streets. After a nice rest on Place des Vosges, you can take a left on Rue des Tournelles and reach a very nice terrace bistrot: "Chez Janou"...no booking outside possible, you better be early.

For a short ride, you could start from Metro station St Paul in Le Marais (again), and then turn left into the Rue de Foulcry following the way of the traffic, and cycle casually towards the Ile St Louis, taking the bridge: "Pont Marie". Once on the island, you turn right onto the Rue St Louis en l'Ile, and cycle until the end, where you will have to stop at Bertillon and enjoy a "sorbet ice cream":). Then you cross the river using the Pont St Louis and here it is, Notre Dame Cathedral, which you can cycle around and come to the front.

These are I think very nice rides especially if the weather is good.

Ben

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fredwilson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:30:58 -0000

i went to MIT, but yes, a bike rental system on college campuses would be amazing

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Flavia — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:21:42 -0000

Well ... do you know Bicing system in Barcelona, Spain? It sounds like that.

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Dhru Purohit — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:06:05 -0000

Fred, if this model was at Harvard while you were there (I think that's where you went) do you think it would have been used?

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Lee Greenhouse — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:59:05 -0000

Flora and I fell in love with Velib in Paris ast summer and it quickly replaced the Metro for us. We heard that Mayor Daley was thinking about it for Chicago. It works in Chicago because the city is blanketed with bike stations so that no matter where you come from or are going, you can count on using the system. I'm dubious that it can work in US cities, except in the most densely populated ones. It's a shame that we don't have it here.

Lee

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Shaili — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:22:39 -0000

Lived in Eindhoven, NL for a few years. The country is a model on how to build a bike-centric urban communities. And yes ... there is an black market for stolen bikes. Maybe Velib solves that.

Here's a blog post on a bike ride with GPS recording, geo-tagged with photos (Nokia N95 works great !!). Could work great on your Paris trip :-). http://abaqus.typepad.com/a...

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Glenn Gillen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:07:00 -0000

I know you're off to Edinburgh for the festival. Glentress just south of Edinburgh has some of the best cross-country mountain biking I've seen, and I'm pretty sure there is a local group that leaves of an evening each week for a dusk ride (probably around 11pm this time of year)

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fredwilson — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:06:08 -0000

Send me the ideas. I will be here on and off for the next month as my family is here and I am using it as a base to travel around

Re: Velib Is Awesome

BenParis — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:33:46 -0000

Hi Fred, here is Ben Paris. You should have said earlier that you were planning a trip to Paris, I would have recommended some places very accessible with a Velib:) If you are interested in some particular spots, let me know.

Enjoy your ride

Re: Velib Is Awesome

fakedjs — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:12:33 -0000

Bike riding is underrated. Every city needs good trails.

Re: Velib Is Awesome

Solomon — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:30:49 -0000

Hi Fred,

If you're planning on visiting the Louvre, do that on Friday night if you can: it stays open later that day. At any other time the crowd will be ridiculous.

Agreed with mluca: Montmartre is pretty awesome: no magic trick to avoid the crowd there though, sorry.

If you care for an encounter with the indigenous tech start-up population, I work around the corner from Montmartre and would be delighted to show you around and chat for a little bit. Pascal you're welcome to join too :)

Happy explorations

Solomon

Re: Velib Is Awesome

vcinvestor — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:42:24 -0000

A similar system operates in Stockholm. Pay 250SEK once and have the right to a bike for three hours a day. 250SEK buys over three months use. There are over 30 sites for bikes now.

Re: Velib Is Awesome

gregorylent — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:47:15 -0000

lol

Re: Velib Is Awesome

jackson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:53:55 -0000

Same deal in Amsterdam, much like the Copenhagen situation; you use a coin. They were sort of beat up but useable. I suppose in the USA we'd need to have a larger deposit, say, the cost of a bike.

Re: Velib Is Awesome

tweetip — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:33:15 -0000

I've lived in bike communities most of my life - this concept tries, and fails - for many reasons. It won't work until A: cars don't move anymore, and/or B: a president says do it. But what Paris has done is a nice "iteration" for archaeologists if nothing else :)

Re: Velib Is Awesome

gregorylent — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:42:26 -0000

that's what i was thinking, there just isn't the respect that there is in europe, nor the bike paths ... but then somebody here mentioned credit card deposit, and i thought, ah, maybe they would last a year or two that way, but given the credit card debt of the average urbanite ... well, i would love it if it worked, ... i know it is hard to believe, but some things are just nicer elsewhere