London considering rent-a-bike scheme

according to "Parisian-style hire bicycles to beat London traffic jams," from the Independent which describes the success of the recent introduction of such a program in Paris:

The Paris Velib, or Freedom Bike, was launched less than four weeks ago, and has already proved a massive hit. The council deposited 20,000 heavy duty bicycles in about 750 metered racks around the city. Anyone who wants to use a bicycle swipes his or her travel card and sets off. The bike can be returned to any of the special racks.

By last weekend, the scheme's organisers reported that each bike was being used, on average, six times a day, implying that the scheme had passed the milestone of one million trips in just three weeks.

Users have to pay £20 a year to join the scheme, give their credit card details, and leave a £150 credit card deposit. Each trips then costs one euro, or about 65p, per half hour.

Thefts are discouraged by the distinctive design of the bicycles, and by the fact that anyone wanting one has to give credit card details. Even so, there have been 50 bicycles torn from their moorings and 180 vandalised. Some users have also cheated by keeping the bikes overnight to make sure that they have one to use in the morning. The organisers have also had to contend with the problem that bikes tend to pile up at the bottom of steep hills, and be in short supply in places such as Montmartre, at higher altitudes, for the obvious reason that people prefer to pedal downhill.

DC is introducing a similar program.

A man rides his bicycle past a row of new bicycles known as "Velib" in Paris, Saturday July 14, 2007. Starting July 15, more than 10,600 bikes will be posted all over town at 750 stations, and the numbers of both will nearly double by the year's end. The great news for tourists is that City Hall has made sure the service is convenient for tourists, not just Parisians, by offering short-term passes and access in eight languages. The idea is flexibility: You grab a bike from any station around town, they pop up every 330 yards or so, and park it at any other station. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)