Paris wakes up to large scale bike hire scheme

PARIS, July 14 (Reuters) Hundreds of new bicycles appeared at stations across Paris on Saturday for the start of a large scale bike hire scheme aimed at cutting traffic congestion and air pollution.

Based on similar schemes in other European cities, the ''Velib'' (short for ''free bike'' scheme in French) project allows riders to take a bike and return it later or drop it off at another station.

Users need a credit-card like pass to release the bicycles from their locks and can use them for free for up to 30 minutes and with prices rising from 1 euro (1.38 dollars) to four euros per half hour depending on how long the bike is used for.

Some 1,450 'stations' are planned across Paris by the end of the year with over 20,000 of the grey three-speed bicycles.

The scheme, a partnership between City Hall and an advertising company which supplied the bikes in return for billboard space, has drawn criticism from some.

''The City Hall is using a private company that holds a monopoly, that in itself is a problem,'' said Christiane Chavane of the Liberal Alternative party.

''In the end nothing is for free. These bikes are paid for by all the Paris households, including the old and handicapped -- who have little chance of using them,'' she added.

City Hall said the bikes would allow Parisians and tourists to cycle around the city freely. But it urged the cyclists to respect the traffic rules and not to run over pedestrians.

REUTERS CS MIR KP1530