Velibs and Dogs

Our friends at the City of Sydney are interested in the Paris City's "Velib" system which is infrastructure allowing easy rental of and depositing of bicycles, for getting around the city.

There are Velib depots in the streets everywhere, and more are being built as we speak. Each depot has maybe 20 spots for a rented bike to be picked up or returned. There is a central control panel where you select the bike you want, pay for it, and release it. When you have ridden where you want, you park the bike at the nearest depot and use the control panel to terminate your rental and finalise the payment.

This whole system looks quite new, and the bikes are clean and in good condition, and have bright head and tail lights on when you are riding them. Parisians (and the odd tourists) using the system seem to spend a lot of time working out the instructions at the high-tech depots, so we guess they are still familiarising themselves with the whole deal. We didn't rent any Velibs (we are walkers!), but did study the instructions, and they are quite confusing. Velibs seem expensive too! Our reading is 7E for two hours. That said, Velibs look to be quite popular, and you get the most well dressed ladies and gentlemen hopping on and riding away. Of course, not having to wear crash hats (noone does) simplifies this whole system a lot.

We have observed what seems to be one major hiccough with Velibs. Some depots are full, and renters can't return their bikes. You see them standing around waiting, hoping for someone to show up and rent a bike. Other depots are empty, particularly those at the tops of hills (e.g. Montmartre) - we guess people prefer to ride down Paris's gentle hills than up them. You see Velib service wagons towing dozens of Velibs around, presumably to even up this situation - it may be just a teething problem. You also see JC Decaux contractors doing maintenance on the bikes. Decaux bus stops are as big an obstruction in Paris as they are in Sydney.

Thanks to the wonders of live streaming over the internet, we heard Lord Mayor Clover Moore talking about new dog rules in Sydney parks. Clover mentioned Paris as one of her models of her proposals to allow dogs off leashes at more Sydney parks (she did emphasise that dogs must still be under the control of their owners). What we didn't hear her mention is that many if not most parks in Paris have gates on them and ban dogs altogether. Many people, especially families, take advantage of these open spaces in Paris where you can safely relax, walk, and children can safely play, without being contaminated by the leftovers of irresponsible dog owners. We think Clover's proposals for increased freedom for dogs should be balanced by more dog free domains for people who don't want to be in contact with these furry friends. Clover has always been a strong supporter of responsible dog ownership, but sadly, a large proportion of Sydney dog owners do not know what this means!