Ah, Human Nature

Well, here's the City of Paris's well-publicized venture into social re-structuring in its efforts to entice people to switch from car use to exercising their limbs by pedalling throughout the city. And to make it all very convenient, thousands of really first-class bicycles would be made available at depots cunningly placed throughout the City of Lights. So Parisians, or tourists could avail themselves of the use of these bicycles at modest cost.

How thoughtfully creative can a municipality get? How grateful should the citizens be that their city councillors are so invested in a sense of civic responsibility and an obvious acknowledgement that every little bit helps in the battle against climate change? Well, moderately grateful. Doubtless many people who have made use of the bicycles have appreciated the thought and the availability of alternate modes of transport.

Both in practical terms and for recreational purposes. No fuss, no mess, just park the bicycle, once it has been made respectful use of, in the correct area, taking care to observe the method to be used. And everyone gains. Less pollution in the environment, more opportunity for people to get around in a pleasant manner while also shedding sedentary habits.

But the "Velib" bike rental system has encountered some hiccoughs, it would seem. The company, JCDecaux, which operates the scheme on behalf of the city has had to replace sixteen thousand of the bicycles. Conveyances celebrated for their convenience, but which were returned to the rental stations with twisted handlebars, torn baskets and, alas, crushed wheels.

Some, in fact, were never returned to the depots, but were fished out of the lovely Seine, in deplorably rusted condition. Eight thousand have entirely departed the scene. Some of those eight thousand, painted a readily-identifiable grey, have been seen on the streets of eastern European cities. Oh dear. Talk about best-laid plans going astray....

"It's quite simple. The entire fleet of 20,000 Velib bikes has been replaced at least once", according to the director general of JCDecaux. Mr. Asseraf explained that the bicycles often became damaged as a result of first-time users failing to lock them properly in the stalls provided, thus providing an opportunity for malicious theft and damage to occur.

Is the city in despair over this, are they prepared to call it a day, consider this a well-thought experiment gone awry? Nothing of the kind. On the other hand, something really must be done about this maltreatment of public property. So studies are to be conducted to address the problem.

Which begs the question: are Parisians so lacking in civic pride?