Have you ever wanted to experience the real Paris on one of your visits to one of the most romantic and celebrated cities in the world? Now’s your chance, with the newly implemented self-service bicycle transit system, termed the Velib'. No longer do you have to rent that tiny, two-door rental car or fight for the impossible parking space that might take you up to an hour to find. That’s not even mentioning the amount of money you’ll save on gas! Find out more about how this newly launched bicycle rental program works by reading our quick Velib fact sheet below.

How the Velib system works
Over 1,400 bike rental locations are logistically placed throughout the city, so not more than 300 meters pass between each terminal in the city center. With over 20,000 bikes, the Velib is the largest bike rental system in the world. This sheer volume of bikes and bike terminals ensures that bikes will readily be available for both tourists and non-tourists alike. Not only is there a huge volume of bikes, but also the terminals are conveniently open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That means you can rent a bike at 12:00 am and enjoy the empty Parisian streets.

What’s perhaps the greatest and most convenient feature of this revolutionary bike system is that you can pick up a bike at one location and drop it off at another location of your choice. You don’t have to make a round trip if you don’t want to. Let’s say that you’re interested in sightseeing some 10 kilometers from your Parisian hotel, and you don’t want to make the round trip back. Simply drop off your bike at the sightseeing location and you can take a taxi back.

Rates
Rates for the Verib are extremely reasonable, especially when you compare the cost of renting a car (plus gas). In order to rent a bike, you’ll need to subscribe to a one-day card (one euro), a weekly card (five euros), or an annual card (29 euros). On top of the that, rates are as follows: the first 30-minutes are free; one euro for the next half-hour; two euros for another half-hour; and four euros for additional half-hours. For example, if you rent a bike for 3 hours, the cost will be seven euros.

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