I heard from some friends from Barclelone that a similar scheme has also been rolled out there this years.

Nick, edinburgh,

Barcelona has recently started a similar scheme but I can see no mention of it.

Maite, Southampton, UK

I was in Barcelona a few weeks ago and their Bicing system works *very* well. There is a lot of cycle use there, and lots of variety in what they ride, but maybe a third of the cycles you see are from their rental system.

People just walk up, present their contact-less card to the system, it tells them which numbered bike to take and unlocks it, and away they go. At their destination, they drop the bike back onto the locking stand, check it's secure, and walk away.

Absolutely excellent. I cycle around my home city in the UK, but often would like the flexibility of doing some trips on foot, some by bus and cycle at other times. High-density and low-hassle bike rental would really work well in the UK if (and only if) HMG get behind it and organise it well. Not something they have a great reputation for!

Ian Oliver, Leeds, UK

i work in paris several days a week and have a number of colleagues who use this system - they are delighted with it and say that even though the traffic will increase after the summer they are now hooked. Personally I think it's great and they started it at a great time of the year (mid July) - less traffic to get used to it and enough time to not to want to stop doing it. Plus it's quite cheap - not only does London need to improve circulation but prices need to come down dramatically - here ken should go back a bit in his own political history and resurrect his cheap transport schemes that never got off the ground in the early 80s - Paris is a lot cheaper and frankly better than London for transport

sarah, gosport,

Germany's Deutsche Bahn introduced this sceme years ago, and very successfully too

T. Andre, London, UK

I'm really pleased to see that the scheme is showing early promise. I hope this points the way for other cities. The more cyclists the better.

Paul, Andover, UK

The idea is good, but it should be free. The City-bike system has been in use in Copenhagen for at least 10 years now and it is a massive success, especially among tourists (since all Danes have bikes anyway). You pay a £2 deposit and use the bike as long as you like. It is illegal to take the bikes outside the certain boundaries (like the London C-charge zone). The scheme is ad-sponsered and bike repairs are done by prison inmates.

Martin Hutchings, Copenhagen, Denmark

please bring this to Cardiff. I think its a fabulous idea. (although I can only see problems in terms of infrastructure cost and vandalism)

matt, cardiff, Wales

Sounds good and all for it, reasonably priced and gives good benefits in health, mobility and reducing traffic. My concern is, if it is introduced by livingstone or other labour wards, it will be the same as other traffic reducing measures. The train service which i would use almost exclusively and keep my car for weekends is the most expensive in Europe, I only use the train as a last resort.

It sounds like the parisians have sought to not batter the motorists but synergise the bicycles with the cars. You can bet livingston will bring in draconian measures in an attempt to force full compliance, then he will continue to raise prices until it is no longer a financial benefit to take part but it will be too late to go back.

Paul, London,

I used velib a couple of weeks ago and despite pay-station failure at the first pick-up spot the scheme works really well - the only problem is that it's been a victim of its own success and many stations are left with no bikes. The bikes themselves are relatively easy to ride but lack gears (only 3 are provided). On the flat it's OK but hills are a little different... I certainly recommend it to visitors to Paris as it's a great way to see the city.

David, London, UK

As I read this article I thought " this would never work in Britain - the bikes would all be stolen". What a depressing indictment of our society to be proved correct ("successes...and failures")

Richard Speller, Southsea, England

I am an ex-pat living in Paris and have to say that the "Velib" concept is brilliant and makes travelling around the city a joy rather than a chore. I want to point out, however, an error in your article. You say that a yearly season ticket buys "half an hour's pealling a day". This is incorrect; it's a much better deal than that. Everytime you take out a "Velib" your first half hour is always free no matter how many bikes you take out in a day (same applies for the daily & weekly tickets too). I wanted to clarify this before Red Ken launches them in London but at a vastly inflated fee!! The arrival of thousands of "Velibs" on to the streets of Paris also seems to have had a knock-on effect with people using their own bikes more. I have to hand it to the French on this one - it's a well thought out and well run scheme apart from a few glitches as highlighted in this article.

Zoe Owen, Paris, France

While early signs of take up are good and I hope Velo Lib is successful, it's too early to say what impact the scheme is having on Paris traffic. The city is practically empty during the last week of July and the first weeks of August.

NeilD, Paris, France