….Well, not really, but two things happened today which made me jump for joy and filled me with so much glee I squeaked like a little girl. Boston is becoming a little more like Paris by allowing citizens to register their Charlie Cards online and unveiling a bike sharing program scheduled for next spring. YAY!
Paris, much like Boston, is rich with history, tiny streets [SUV’s just don’t fit there], and is notorious for crazy drivers. Unlike Boston, Paris has 6.5 million more residents in the metropolitan area. Yet, they’ve been able to make it work. Since it’s debut in July 2007, the Paris program, Vélib—a contraction of vélo for bicycle, and liberté for freedom—is the city’s answer to both increasing congestion and the climate crisis. Within it’s first year there were over 26 million riders and the program can average around 200,000 rides a day. Because of the Vélib’s popularity the government was forced to double its initial fleet of 10,000 bicycles. I don’t know about you, but those numbers are astonishing in my eyes.
Anyone with a bank or credit card can rent a Vélib at one of the many docking stations Paris has to offer. A Vélib can be rented for a euro a day or five euros for a week, as well as a yearly subscription rate of 29 euros, approximately eight cents a day. Whatever plan you choose, the first 30 minutes of each ride are free. And with over 20,600 bicycles in service and over 1,450 docking stations merely 300 meters from one another, the entire city is available right at your foot pedals. The program is so popular that there are now blogs dedicated entirely to the fashion of Vélib riders, ranging from women to heels and skirts to men in suits with briefcases in the front basket.
From the Boston Globe article published today, it seems that the MBTA is taking a note from the Paris system. The Hub plans to install up to 3,000 docking stations located about 300-400 yards apart, focusing heavily on main squares and popular tourist attractions around the city. A potential rate offered by BikeNow, one of three companies in competition to run the program, would charge $2.50 for a day pass and $40 for a yearly subscription. Similar to the Vélibs, renters would be allowed unlimited rides under 30 minutes, after which an additional rate would be added on.
Even Jessica Alba is a fan of the Vélib
Granted, I understand that there’s a lot of risk involved by launching 3,000 inexperienced bikers into Boston traffic. That was the same risk in Paris as well and although the risk is high, there are many more perks. Maybe this is the way to get Boston drivers (aka Massholes) to finally blinker and stop driving like lunatics. It allows people to be fair weather bike owners. If it’s sunny, take a bike to work today. If it happens to rain towards the end of the evening, you have the freedom to opt for another mode of transportation. The Boston sharing program would be a great way to restore faith [if possible at this point] in the MBTA system. City dwellers would now have the opportunity to take public transportation in their own hands and not rely on the T or the bus, both notorious for being late (if functioning at all).
Maybe this is also what universities in Boston need in particular. Rent will always stay high in certain areas, and this might just be the perfect opportunity for students to be able to live in other parts of Boston–like the South End, Somerville, or even East Boston–with students from different universities living in mingling in areas outside of their respective “traditional” city campus. Maybe this is the way to pop that fabled “College Bubble”. I know you and your friends have thought at a least one time that Cambridge is a great idea, but how the heck are we going to get there and back. And when 2 am rolls around and you and your friends are getting kicked out of Rumor, Daisy’s or whatever your watering hole may be, it will be reassuring to know that you don’t have to rely on Boston cabbies or your tired soles to take you back home. Like Paris though, don’t ride one of these bikes drunk. My friend spent a night in jail for being pulled over for drunk vélibing. Granted, his experience made for plenty of teasing over wine afterwards.
For me, I’m excited. I will continue to be excited till these bad boys roll out tentatively next spring. And when they do know that I will be out there braving Boston drivers, coming back from Formaggio in Cambridge at dinner time to my Symphony apartment, with my bike basket full of cheese, baguettes, and my Longchamp purse, imaging just for a moment that the Charles is the Seine. And as I peddle down the Harvard bridge in my high heels with the wind catching my skirt, it’ll be nice to know that my dream has finally become a reality.
Now…a quick movie [courtesy of StreetFilms] about the Vélib in case you’re craving more…
Boston Candy Couture 