Velo'v -- post only for the practically bike-minded

Lyon has a highly successful bike sharing program. They really are everywhere, and a lot of people use them as their primary mode of transportation. They're basically free -- 10 euros for a year's membership, with 5 of that going towards ride credit. Since rides under half an hour are free anyway, and you can make one-way trips, you probably won't need much ride credit. Of course, the year's membership requires the usual hoops the French make you jump through for any card -- proof of residence, etc., mailed to some address. However, assuming you have a French credit card (more on that later), they're easy to rent in the short term too -- 1 euro gets you a week-long membership.

The bikes themselves are a bit strange -- extremely heavy (I've heard 50 pounds), with what looks like a dashboard mounted on the handlebars, which, I assume houses whatever computing power is necessary, and also makes it hard to steal the front part of the bike. There are three gears, although that's not a guarantee, and lights that appear to be pedal-powered, and go on only at night, but I've seen exceptions to that.

It's generally good practice to check out the bike you're about to take, since the odds are about 1 in 5 that there is something wrong with it. Those odds go up markedly the fewer bikes there are at your station. This is less an issue with maintenance, though, and more a reflection of desperation caused by commuting -- since the bikes can be used for one-way trips, some stations will be emptied out in the morning, save for the defectives. However, it turns out that the full stations are actually a bigger problem. Because you have not returned the bike until it has been put in a slot at a station, and the stations have limited slots, you can find yourself in big trouble. I had to bike for around 2 miles once before I found a station with open slots, although I'm sure my geographical ignorance played a role, since when you're at a full station, you can use your card at the machine, and it will tell you what are the nearest stations with free spots (although not how to get to them).

The short-term (and long-term) memberships give you a card, which you touch to a kiosk to start the process. You have to enter a PIN on the extremely finicky touch-screen (one station's touch-screen had cracked glass for a few days, which made it impossible to check bikes out, although bikes could be left there), and then you choose a bike. After a 30 second pause, you can remove the bike from its post, and you're off. To return the bike, you just slide it into the slot, where it makes a satisfying clicking noise, and then a beep, for good measure. If you then use your card at the kiosk, you will be asked if you want a receipt, or if something was wrong with that bike. If you say the latter, you can check out another bike.