I have wanted to ride a bike around Lyon for a couple of weeks now, but haven’t mustered up the courage to make it happen. I feel like everyone rides bikes here. The other day, I saw an exchange student from Germany riding her bike around town looking more French than the French do.
Although she bought her own bike, I’m lucky not to be obligated to go on a French Craigslist to find my own. Lyon, like a lot of French cities (and Barcelona! And DC!), has a public bike system, Vélo’v.
My understanding of this bike system has gone through a hefty evolution, as many people I’ve talked to about it offer differing and sometimes contradictory opinions and facts on the subject. “You pay one euro for the day!” “It’s free for the first 30 minutes!”
Six weeks into my stay here, I finally did it; I decided to ride a bike home from school. There is a bike stand conveniently next to my university, so I bought a ticket there. (In case you were wondering, there are different ways to use the service, but to enroll for one day, it costs one Euro. The first 30 minutes of riding are free, and then the timed charges start after that.)
I plugged in the numbers off my ticket again and again and again, but the machine wasn’t taking it. People were waiting to take the last two bikes home, so I called it good and took the metro home. When I got off at my stop, though, I decided to give it one last try.
There was a full stand of bikes across the square from my apartment, so I started typing the numbers; for every attempt, the machine fired back at me with an error message. A woman who had rented a bike pulled up next to the rack, waiting for me to rent my bike so she could put hers in my empty slot. But the way things were going, there was going to be no bike, so I asked her for help. It was a win-win: someone helps me accomplish my wish to ride a bike and I free up a place to put their bike.
We tried the ticket a couple of times more, but it still wasn’t working. She suggested I try buying another one, so I did. And it worked! She helped me pick out a winner, and showed me how to return the bike properly (super important in the context that you get charged 150 Euros if you keep the bike longer than 24 hours).
After she got me all set up, we chatted for a little bit. She gave me tips for riding the bike in Lyon, and even gave me her card. She’s a pianist who does experimental work with music and body energy—it all sounds very cool, and she was just so nice to me.
We bid adieu (ha.) and I took off! Working within the bike lanes (which are often bus lanes) I was kind of obligated to start heading back towards the university. I crossed the Rhône and was about halfway to school when I decided that was probably enough fun for me for one day, and turned off into a side street to go home. As it turns out, most of the side streets are one-way’s, so I wove through a maze of them before finally hitting the river again, this time a good distance south of my bridge.
But lo and behold, there was a bike rack with one space left in it. I rushed to put my bike back, waiting for the beeps that let you know your bank account will thank you later. And then I walked home.
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Read my Lyon posts (from packing until now):
Packin’ It Up
How do you say, “stressful,” in French?
A Saturday in Vieux Lyon
Journées du Patrimoine
Problems with Paperwork
Sittin’ in a Café
At the Movies with Gérard Depardieu
Break for Barcelona
And for the rest of the week, visit my blog, à mi-chemin.