Que'st que c'est - un velib
Holland might have been the starting point of the "community bicycle plans" in the 60's. But these days the only remaining "white bikes" in the country are in one of our national parks. The "take them when you need them" bikes have unfortunately disappeared from the city streets in Holland.
Luckily more and more cities in the world take the main concepts of the "community bicycles" and improved them for this modern age. The city center of Paris is one of the more recent examples, where -since late 2006- they've started deploying bicycles. These bikes are called Velib - which is a contraction of "velo" (bike) and "liberte" (free) - and there are about 20.000 of them available.
Once you have a subscription card (available for a small fee), you can just grab one of the bikes whenever you need it. They are parked in groups at just about every other street corner, so you should never have to walk more than a few minutes. If you return the bike to a parking spot within half an hour, the ride is completely free. What a great way to commute over short distances in this great city center.
