Update: 16th July Some pictures of the velib bikes taken on the opening day and a (very poor quality taken using the video fuction of a compact digital camera at night, I'm away from home so I don't have the facilities to add a cool sountrack to the video) video of my first trip on the velib bikes. My first impression of the scheme is that despite some teething problems it works very well the bikes are great and the system is easy to use, the main problem is getting one as the whole of Paris seems to be velib crazy.

Velib is the amazing public bike plan underway in Paris due to launch on the 15th of July where they are providing 20,600 bicycles in 1450 points with first 30 minutes free of charge and a sliding scale for subsequent 30 min periods. I'll be in Paris in July and I'm already looking forward to doing it on bike. Maybe our new 'green' government will do this in Dublin (to make up for Tara, Shannon, Corrib gas etc)? On a related note a nice piece by David Byrne on the joys of cycling in New York.