VELIB. Putting pedal power on the streets of Paris.

Paris is going to try a new transportation system. Bicycles.

Paris is set for a transport revolution this weekend when a fleet of 10 000 self-service bicycles hits the city, providing a cheap and fun alternative to the metro for Parisians and tourists alike. As the Tour de France annual bike race wends its arduous way across the country, in Paris amateur cyclists will from Sunday be able to use swipe-or credit-cards 24 hours a day to rent cycles for short trips, dropping them off at any of 750 bike points to be picked up by a new user. The scheme, named Velib, is part of a growing global trend for eco-friendly, easy-access urban bike rental, but is the first in a major capital and is being keenly watched by city planners from Rio de Janeiro to Montreal.

Given the way Parisiennes drive their cars, this could be quite interesting.

City Hall hopes Parisians will adopt the system en masse, and expects to have at least 200 000 regular users by year end, when the number of bikes is set to double to 20 600 at 1 451 stations.

The modern looking bike docking stations are located 300 meters apart. The bikes, weighing in at 22 kilograms (48.5 lbs) are durable enough to handle the multitude of users, come with three gears, a basket and a locking system for those occasions when stops away from a docking station may be necessary.

Cost to Paris taxpayers? Nothing. Advertising firm JC Decaux is providing the money for the system in exchange for advertising space in the city. In 2005 JC Decaux set up the same system in Lyon with 4,000 bikes.

Fifty-five percent of the scheme's users in Lyon say they now drive less, and bike traffic has jumped 75 percent.

Cool idea. The system is available to both residents and tourists of Paris. Regular users can get an annual subscription to the system for 29 Euros and casual users can get a day-ticket for one Euro daily. After that, the first 1/2 hour of use is free.

Costs for the user have been kept right down. Rental is free for the first half hour, rising to one euro for the second, two for the next and so on - a progressive charging system designed to encourage short rents and quick turn-over.

The ParisInfo site has information on it and if you're really interested in learning more, there is the VELIB site, which is a good place to practice your French.

While the system advertises that it can accept both the VELIB contact card (which you purchase) or a credit card, some observers have reported that there appears to be no place to actually swipe a credit card. And, there is a phone number and online information site which will provide information of the availability of bikes at any given station.

This is an idea worth watching.