Nice ... in theory, but having actually used Vé'lib, I can say that nearly half the bikes were vandalized in the first week, and at the very least most had flat tires. In any event, I saw a bunch of broken chains.

They put the pods in former car parking zones, and I think the locals were extracting their revenge.

Taken to Philly, the vandalism would probably be 100X worse.

I predict failure ultimately in Paris, and for sure in Philly, if it actually comes here.

In theory, it's a good system.

Like in Philly, in Paris, there's no place for bicycles. The bike lanes are shared with the bus lanes, and the buses have zero patience for bikes, and there's no room to pull over for them, except to hop onto the sidewalk, which is forbidden.

The "reality" of Vé'Lib is not so rosy as my experience from having used it in Paris. The whole time, I was thinking: "if only these were scooters... THEN this would work here, but these bicycles have no proper [physical] place on Parisien streets."