Certainly the best way to learn about the workings of Vélib' is to warm up your French, come to Paris and spend a few days checking it out in person. But if don't have the time and the ticket, you can do worse than to spend some time with the materials that you will find and can link to on this page. In fact, even if you are planning to come here, you should find this a valuable way to prepare to make best use of your stay. You will hit the ground running.

The Greening of Transport in Paris
To set the stage, we invite you to start by spending a few minutes checking our this short PowerPoint presentation. It provides a quick overview of how this one city is undertaking to reinvent transport for its citizens and visitors, and in the process providing a defining example for other cities seeking to do the same. Our treatment isolates five specific path-breaking innovation, that the city is combining to create the underpinnings of a whole New Mobility model. Vélib' is the first of these, with the other four (Carte Orange fare card, Mobilien BRT, Carsharing, and car-restraint strategies now in process and to follow in the months ahead).

For the Greening of Paris presentation click here .

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The City Bike Strategies/Vélib' Policy Brief
This 130 page Policy Brief has been prepared to inform considering cities and agencies first hand as to how best to go about planning and implementing a city bike system of their own. It takes the new Vélib' system as a leading example and its point of departure, but then reaches much further back into the history of city bike developments as well as looking at how such a project can fit into the larger new mobility and sustainability framework of your city.

Click here for extracts of report chapter on the Vélib' start-up.

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Short introductory video
This informal video to the Vélib' system was shot by Manisha Gutman from Pune India three days after the formal opening on 15 July. It is a simple production but can help you get a rather good feel for the system and the people who use it.

To have a look at the ten minute video click here .

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Velib interview video (North/South)
This ten minute ad hoc video interview by Manisha Gutman with Eric Britton was filmed three days after the formal inauguration of Vélib', digs a bit deeper into the issues, and looks at two things: First, Britton discusses some of the strategic underpinnings and things that need to be done to ensure the success of a high visibility innovational project such as this. Second, the discussion moves to whether, and if so how, a project like Vélib' might be put to work in a large Indian city like Pune (population 6 million) and more generally in Third World mega-cities.

To have a look at the ten minute video click here .

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Dynamic map of stations
This map is meant to be useful to users, as a one-click pre-ride checkpoint to ensure that there will be free bikes at their favorite stations, and slots to park them at the end of the trip.

Check it out for yourself: here .

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Independant newsletter and commentary (in French)
News, complaints, polls, observations, newspaper and blog coverage, et al.

Practice your French here here .

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Photo gallery of views of Vélib' and users
Ken Coughlin, a board member of the New York City organization Transportation Alternatives, took these good picture on the occasion of a September 2007 visit to Paris and the Vélib'. (You will notice that a number of his photos have been used to illustrate the Advisory Brief. Thanks Ken.)

Pick up Ken's pictures here .

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Vélib' Q&A
33 questions about Vélib' you always wanted to have the answers to, but were always afraid to ask. Prepared by Vélo Mondial.

Click here for Velo Mondial's Q&A.

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Vélib' - City of Paris homepage
This link takes you straight to the comprehensive City of Paris homepage for Vélib'. Sooner or later it should work for you in three languages (French, English, Spanish). Have a look at their gadget for finding near-by stations at Finding a Velib station. This is a pretty handy device for your trip planning. It gives you a quick status report on each station: exact street address, number of bikes currently available, number of parking slots free, and whether station accepts credit cards or not.

Click here for Velib' home page

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Vélib' a Paris (in French)
An excellent, detailed and reasonably up to date 24 page introduction to the project and its background. If you can read French, this is not to be missed.

Click here to down load the brochure

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Technorati on Vélib'
The latest from Technocrati on Vélib'. In their modest words "Everything in the known universe about Vélib'". Maybe so. Anyway lots of stuff there and some of it perhaps useful.

Click here for Velib' home page

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Vélib' in the news'
News from Google on Vélib'.

Click here for Velib' home page

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