Sunday, September 09, 2007

After Velib, Pielib


You all remember Velib right? This new bike rental system that allows Parisians - and tourists - to pick up a bike from any of numerous stations spread out through the city. Well, yesterday, to make fun of all this and to get attention, someone (Sébastien Brochot) inaugurated the first Pielib station. Pielib is a play on word with Pied (foot in French) as Velib is also a play on word with Velo (bike in French). As you can see on the making of Pielib offers a "rental shoes service" and strangely use the exact same stations as Velib, LOL!

15 comments:

  1. A rather strange idea. What happens if they don't have your size or style?

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  2. That's funny. I guess if you don't have the right shoes on and at the spur of the moment want to take a bike ride, you can do it.

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  3. Hilarious! I love the photos, specially the one with the pantoufles!

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  4. This almost sounds like an April Fool's Day joke. I love the way you photographed it!

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  5. the photo is expressive:) And the idea is funny...with the play of words:)

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  6. That is hilarious! I would love Brochot! Did anyone actually take him up on his offer? ;-)

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  7. I'd say this was not your best photo but it certainly is unique. They must have thought you were bizarre sitting on the ground like that to photographe it. I loved the Eiffel Tower photo 2 days ago. Do they still have the ferris wheel running?

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  8. Bonjour Eric,
    A en croire mes oreilles, tu t'es fait client du microlib. Je t'adresse mes félicitations pour ton intervention sur France Info. Je tâcherai de lire le dossier auquel tu as participé dans CC. Dans l'attente, pense à redonner le micro ...

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  9. Mort de rire ! Et vive les pantoufles :))))

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  10. That's clever. Now, as it grows in popularity, there will of course be satellite businesses: fashion boutiques for renting clothing in order to look stylish with the rented shoes. (It is Paris, after all.) Then rental accessories and, perhaps, rental cosmetics for that complete look. Imagine all the beautiful people with the perfect makeup, purses, jewelry, clothing, and shoes, riding the Velib bikes. Ah, j'adore Paris!

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  11. Oxford University is going to copy the Paris Bike rental system, I am not sure when it will be in place, however at first it is only going to be for University Don's and Staff.

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  12. They had those bike rentals in Rennes long before they hit Paris! I think it was called Velo en Ville or something. Sadly the bikes were not always treated well by riders. I think it's a good idea though.

    And I love the rental shoes joke. It would be funnier in the US though, since people here hardly walk at all (outside of the main cities). French people DO walk alot (especially in Paris) so it loses a bit of the irony.

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  13. Thank you very much Éric, your pictures (this one and the "making of" pics) are really good.

    Thanks for coming at the "happening".

    Bonne continuation.

    Sébastien Brochot

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