Editing Paris (section)

===<FONT COLOR="#330099">'''Le Velib (The Bicycle)'''</FONT>===
[[File:Velo du Paris - velib.jpg|thumb|320px|right|]]
[http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/ Velib web site]

Vélib is a "free" bike system that anyone can use in Paris, provided one has a credit card with a chip. BUT if you do not understand the rules, it may be very expensive instead of being almost free. Here's what you should know in order not to get trapped by the Vélib' system :

In order to use Vélib' bikes, you have to allow the Velib system to debit your bank account with the cost of your subscription AND of each travel you'll do with a Velib bike during your subscription time. The subscription fee is cheap : 1,7€ for 24h, 8€ for 1 week, or 29€ for 1 year, and during your subscription time, you can use a bike as many times as you want (but only one at a time, of course). Each travel will be charged to you according to its duration : it can be free, for a short travel, or outrageously expensive for longer travels.

By "travel", you should understand the time spent between the moment you pick up a bike from a Velib' service point and the moment you drop it off at another Velib' service point. (There are hundreds of Velib service points, everywhere in Paris [http://www.parisavelo.net/ Watch the Map])

Each time you pick up a bike, the central computer of the Vélib' system starts metering the time you keep the bike with you, until you drop it off at any Vélib service point. Here's how the cost of your travel will be worked out :
- the first 30 minutes are free
- the second half hour costs 1€ (even if it's not
entirely used : for instance, a 31 min travel will
cost 1€, exactly like a 59 min travel)
- the 3rd half hour costs 2€
- the 4th half hour costs 4€
- each of the following half hours costs 4€

'''For example, if you pick up a bike at 7:02 am, and ride it all around Paris, fastening it to trees whenever you take a stop in order to visit a monument or have a drink, and then drop your bike off at a Velib service point at 22:35 at night, here's what will be charged to you : the travel time will be 32 half hours (real time included between 15h1/2 and 16h), which will cost
: 0 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4.... = 119 € !'''

BUT if you only use Velib bikes to go from a place to another, and drop them off at Velib service points each time you stop somewhere, and provided each trip lasts less than 30 minutes, you can use as many bikes as you want, for free (except for the 1€ or 5€ of subscription).

* [http://www.geovelo.fr/ Geovelo.fr: Itinerary calculator]
* [http://www.parisavelo.net/ Parisavelo.net: All velib stations on Google Maps, with colored icons indicating their status]

* [[Velib_Paris#Le_Velib_.28en_fran.C3.A7ais.29|Le Velib expliqué en français]]
* [[Velib_Paris#Il_Velib_.28In_italiano.29|Il Velib in italiano]]
* [[Velib_Paris#Der_Velib_.28auf_Deutsch.29|Der Velib auf deutsch erklärt]]


See also [[Cheap travel from Paris]]