Va va voom for Vélib as Paris jams

And it’s not just Paris, the whole of France is today trying to cope with a one-day strike by public transport workers. There are almost no train, bus or metro services. Which means the Vélib city-bike rental service is doing a roaring trade as Parisians commute to work this morning.

The city has clogged with motorised traffic but, naturally, bikes are getting through on time. For many Parisians, today could be there first taste of the JCDecaux-operated bike rental scheme. With just 10,000 bikes, demand will be high, although as the bikes are free to hire for the first 30 minutes it’s likely there will be a fast turnaround as commuters dash to work.

Here’s a video of how the Paris scheme operates:

And here’s a video - called Velib Freeride - which shows the bikes being ridden down steps and in a BMX park. The on-board dynamos look trés chic in the night-time scenes: