Le Velo

The last time I was in Paris, nine years ago, we borrowed bicycles from our friends and rode out to La Villette. It was fun, if a bit harrowing; there were some bike lanes then but there was also a lot of traffic. It felt, in many respects, similar to riding in a US city like New York or San Francisco (minus the hills, of course, and much more beautiful!). But that was just a year into the City of Light's ten-year effort to transform itself into a greener, more walkable and bikeable city.

Me at La Villette, 2015

This visit, I was blown away by the extent of the city's ubiquitous bicycle network.

Riding a bike is the best way to see a city -- especially Paris. Maybe it was the Olympics (they did scare away a lot of Parisians, as well as the suburban drivers who typically drive into the city)... maybe it was August (see Les Vacances)... maybe it was the fact that the city has an absolutely amazing metro system (trains have run every 3-5 minutes on every line I've ridden here)... or maybe it's the phenomenal number of striped bike lanes all over the city... but riding a bike in Paris has been absolutely fantastic, mostly because there is just almost no car traffic! And even when there are cars on the road, I still feel, riding a bike, like I am as important, as valid an entity, as a car. I rode against car traffic numerous times in the presence of police officer (police are everywhere in Paris), and never once did I feel any hostility from either the driver or the police officer -- bikes are everywhere, they're allowed to go in both directions even on one-way streets, and they're treated like a valid and important part of the circulation of the city. (It makes me realize how uncomfortable and unwelcome I still feel riding my bike on US streets!)

I do have to mention that the public Velib system is far from ideal: it's an older, dock-based system, and — while the stations are ubiquitous — when you go to pick one, up over half the time the bikes simply don't work. Luckily there are also plenty of electric Dott and Lime bikes -- and though they are quite a bit more expensive, they are almost always operational. (I should have bought an extended Dott pass, which would have made them much more affordable!)

Bike docks at the Grand Port in Marseille

Shiny new e-bikes in Cherbourg

I should also point out that many other French cities are also embracing bicycles: I rode the public bikes in Marseille, and also spotted a very spiffy-looking new system in Cherbourg. (One note about the public bike system in Marseille: while it’s incorporated into the RTM system, the 72-hour metro pass does NOT unlock the bikes. I learned this lesson the hard way. Download the

Levélo app somewhere you can get WiFi ahead of time!)