The Velibs are coming?

@wearnicehats wrote:

i like the idea of all this – just one question – apologies if answered already:

if I take one to a destination and / or back where I started and the nearest drop off point is full presumably I have to go to the next one and so on and so on. Presumably there will be a map telling me where the nearest one is but I also presume that there’s no way of knowing if there’s any spaces on that on either? what if they’re all full – do I have to stand there until one becomes available?

According to the website:
Terminals at all stations allow you to:
select a db
consult your account
view availability of dbs and stands at other stations
check the station map
Locate a credit card enabled terminal

All sounds very sensible! I hope it actually works!

Maybe they’ll double the number if this takes off well.

The attached article from Figaro has some interesting points to make, in particular the possible link between the introduction of Velibs and the notable deterioration of safe cycling behavior, with increasing prosecutions. One cyclist in two is reported as behaving illegally. Jumping the lights being the most common fault, using mobile phones another.

Note also the very low share of cycle movements in Paris transport, despite the Velibs.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2009/08/12/01016-20090812ARTFIG00004-velo-dans-les-villes-les-infractions-explosent-.php

It’s not what you have got it’s how you use it…

The question you have to ask your self is what is the main destination? i.e. where is the most footfall… Are they afraid of people coming out of pubs at 2am and going loony tunes… But… There is still the destination issue in my head…

Decent site, phew.

It almost seems that the powers that be want these schemes to fail.
They want to design them to be unpopular and hard to reach.
They want them to be low maintenance and out of reach and out of range.
That’s free urban planning on wheels for you…

City’s new bike scheme is promoted by cyclists without helmets
http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/citys-new-bike-scheme-is-promoted-by-cyclists-without-helmets-1858979.html

The Herald are giving out about this, however it is actually a very controversial issue, some experts say that injuries are not reduced by wearing cycle helmets others say they are!
In 1998 the European Cyclists’ Federation adopted a position paper rejecting compulsory helmet laws as being likely to have greater negative rather than positive health effects.

I dont wear a helmet myself when cycling, but I do think the Herald should have touched on the controversy of this issue. I think they did when then pictured Trevor Sargent (and Peaches Geldof) cycling to work (or for Peaches to a club perhaps) helmetless.

I’ve been cycling round Dublin helmetless and hi-vis less almost every day for many a year, and I have no intention of changing my ways; my only two minor falls have been my completely my own fault, and the majority of near misses have been with pedestrians who don’t bother to check for cyclists when they are crossing the road. That’s not to say that I have never had a close call with a car, but in my experience it was usually not that the driver didn’t see me, but that they choose to cut across me anyway, making left turns, and the worst offenders, taxi drivers pulling in to stop for a passanger. In these instances, the most important safety feature was not a helmet, but working brakes. Poor or non-existant brakes, are a far more widespread problem as many people choose (and particularly students) to keep old and broken bikes to make them less attractive to thiefs.

That is of course a fair point, however, there is a level of risk assessment involved in most activities, in a car, you are travelling fast enough that you could, in the event of an accident be launched through the car window, in that case it is prudent to wear a seatbelt. When walking there is a chance of tripping on a crack, but one generally doesn’t wear knee pads, or bring a full first aid kit for that eventuality. The question then is where does cycling fall between these, personally, I don’t see cycling as a dangerous event.
But, untill someone decides to make it law, the wearing of helmets is a matter of choice, which is why it gets on my tits then when people start finger wagging over a photo of someone without a helmet.

They do feel a bit silly to wear at the start, especially if you wear argos’ finest cheapest helmet like I do, but it does become second nature after a while and it feels strange to me on the odd occasion that i don’t wear it.

spoil_sport’s argument about walking and knee pads is leaky at best, given that one generally doesn’t spend the majority of one’s time walking amongst traffic. I feel that I would find it difficult to do myself a serious injury on the bike purely from my own steam, it’s when those big, fast, four-wheeled vehicles become involved that I feel the need to give myself a sporting chance.

I’m not sure if helmet wearing should be made compulsory, at least not yet.
The general thought is that legislating the wearing of helmets could have a negative effect on the promotion of taking up cycling as an alternative mode of transport.