Paris Velib 2 years on: Gripes, personal crises and danger

It is now nearing two years since Velib came into being in Paris (see my older post on Velib in this blog). The Velib allows you to take out a bike from a station (there is one practically every 200 m in Paris), ride it to wherever you have to go and return it to another station. Free for 30 minutes, and increasing fee for each of 30 minutes fragments added.
Velib has promoted cycling in Paris more than ever. As soon as the sun comes out, you would see hordes of Velib riders on the streets of Paris (the Velib bikes are easily recognizable by their grey like the sky of Paris color and their somewhat testosterone-pumped look compared to ‘normal’ ones as they include more safety features). To know the hard core riders, you should see who are out on the Velib when it rains (me and a few others). Velib has now been extended to neighboring cities that join Paris at its edges.
Though there is no doubt of the ecological and economical gains of the Velib for some (the company that manages Velib for instance and the city of paris), the negative consequences of its popularity could be felt by individual users…..leading to crises that could make an adult cry.
The popularity of Velib means that often you get to a station and there is no bike available. Indeed there are trucks that supposedly move the bikes among stations all the time, but they might seem to not be there when you want them. On the other hand, when you arrive at a destination station after pedaling uphill for a good half hour, you may find the station full and cannot thus return your bike. A friend of mine had a teary crisis because of this. The day when everyone in France took to the street to demonstrate, my friend checked a bike out of a station near her house and rode to where the demonstration was supposed to start to participate…Arrived at destination, all the stations nearby were not only full but there were long lines of people waiting to return their bike too. She cycled and cycled covering larger and larger areas, past her house where she started before finding a station with an emptly lock slot to return her bike. By this time she was cold, her hair was a big mess, and was in tears as she not only had leg cramps but also had missed the start of the demonstration.
Velib can also be dangerous for some. Who says that sex is like riding a bicycle, that is, you never forget how to do it? But, oh yes, I think you do forget (for both). This may be more of a question of how you do it rather than whether you can do it or not: sure everyone can fuck or ride a bike, but not everyone is a good lover or a good bike rider. Comes Sunday if the sun is out, many who obviously have not got on a bike do so. Fine, good even. But these people would ride as if having consumed a couple beers for breakfast, scattering pedestrians on sidewalks and getting on the nerves of car drivers and other riders on the road. An important implication of their behavior is the intergroup perception and relation that inevitably results in these kinds of situations: the cyclists and the pedestrians and the car drivers.
Now, some of us cyclists are very aware of our image. We want to be good examples to other groups by respecting traffic rules and being polite. Scattering pedestrians on a sidewalk by careening like a bat out of hell towards them of course is not good for our image among pedestrians. And they will get back at cyclists and, unfortunately, they will get back at any cyclist and not the one who acted like the crazy bat. Then there are the drivers….whom I wish to teach road manners more than ever (especially the taxi drivers). They used to be kings of the road I guess and now they have to share this with a bunch of sometimes equally aggressive riders (though how smart that is on the part of cyclists, I wish not to say anything). Sometimes I could positively see the desire in their eyes to flatten me out with my bike as I wait for the red light next to them (must be those who have had a bad brush with the Sunday cyclists). I must admit though that Parisian drivers are slowly accepting us as part of the road scene…but often we have drivers coming from outside Paris who looked at cyclists as if they had just landed from Mars threatening to kidnap their big haired girlfriends (or boyfriends in some cases).
All in all, Paris has had a great success with the Velib. I was interviewed by a radio once (about Velib) and was asked if it was true that Velib stations have become a place where you could cruise and flirt with other riders. I don’t know about that. All I say is that I love the technicians (mostly young good looking men) who repair the bikes. They make waiting for a bike to be repaired and available feel a lot shorter than it really is!