Giles writes...

Recently back from a wonderful (if short) visit to Paris with the express purpose of trying out the much-mooted velibres. I wanted to see how they functioned with a view to doing something similar in Bankside. Velibres are the ‘free' (for half an hour at least) bikes provided by advertising giant J C Decaux in return for substantial advertising sites on the city streets.

Things started well when we located a goodly number of bikes outside the Gare de l'Est. Things deteriorated when none of our credit cards were accepted by the bike station. The same thing happened at another couple of nearby stations. This while several French riders successfully picked up bikes. Baffling then, and baffling to this day.

However, in the company of our Parisian-based and former-Time Out journalist friend Alison, our luck changed and we were soon sailing down from the (stunning, neglected)  Porte St Denis to St Germain, where Alison had left her own bike the night before. What a rush to swing by the Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame and other landmarks before descending into the depths of the ‘gallery district'!

Oh dear. No room on the stand at our destination. This, we learn, is a key issue with velibres and other similar services. Most people - either for work or pleasure - want to go to the same places at the same times. So everyone takes bikes from the top of the hill of Montmartre to the bottom, but no-one (we understand) goes up! J C Decaux gives you a ‘free' 15 minutes to find alternative parking elsewhere, but this isn't always enough. And it means they need to move bikes around by van while the city sleeps.

Leaving the famous Hotel du Nord close to midnight, we challenged each other to a moonlit ride back to our hotel in the 16^th arondissement. Despite a few scrapes, we felt exhilarated when we reached our destination, not least because there was plenty of room on the stand...