Pedalling Against Pollution

by Ellie Markovitch
The city of Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë launched a bicycle rental service, Velib to help fight pollution and traffic congestion in the Paris area.

According to a report by city hall July 29, 616,059 people have used the new bicycle rental service Velib since its debut two weeks before.
The eco-friendly transport is without a doubt the worlds largest bicycle rental system with the goal of 20,600 bicycles stationed in 1,451 locations by the end of 2007.

Many Parisians are pedalling for the environment.
They fell concern about air pollution said Karine Leger, head of communication for AIRPARIF, an organization responsible for monitoring air quality in the Paris region.
“[We] had an inquiry 3 years ago and air pollution came out as the first preoccupation of the people in Ile-de-France, and in Paris.”

Since 2001, Paris has seen an increase of in bicycle use of over 48%.

According to AIRPARIF, there is a 32% of decrease in pollutants emitted by the traffic into the atmosphere between 2002 and 2007. Among the 32%, 6% come from traffic modifications in Paris and 26% are due to the fleet renewal.

to find out about the air quality in Ile-de-France area: http://www.airparif.asso.fr/
and in Europe:
http://www.airqualitynow.eu/