City officials unveiled more than 10,600 rental 
bicycles on Sunday as part of the City of Lights’ Ve’lib (ve’lo, for bicycle, and liberte’, for freedom) program, according to the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/16/world/europe/16paris.html.
Another 10,000 of the hefty, gray bikes are slated to be available to Parisians and tourists by the end of the year. Organizers hope the bicycles will reduce traffic congestion caused by automobiles in the center of the city, improve health and air quality.
The bikes can be rented online or at any of the 750-self-service docking stations. A one-day pass costs 1 euro ($1.38), a weekly pass costs 5 euros ($6.90) and an annual pass is 29 euros ($40). Rides are supposed to be limited to 30 minutes, with incremental charges added beyond that time. The intent is to keep as many bicycles in rotation as possible.
Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has set a target to reduce car traffic by 40 percent by 2020. In the city where only 40,000 of Paris’ 2.5 million resident regularly ride bicycles, Delanoe hopes to raise that number to 250,000 by the end of the year.
