Bikes in Paris

Over the past year, we have found or been given a bicycle, 2 tricycles, and 2 scooters. Of all these, the scooters have worked the best so far. But the bike and tricycles all have their problems like a tire that leaks, a missing pedal, and a broken piece in the plastic frame that needs a non-existant bolt. I had to dig them out of our basement storage area, which was no small task this afternoon, so the kids could try to ride them on a fairly sunny day.

This reminded me of a difference between life in Paris and in suburban America where I was raised. In my youth, everyone had bikes. One rite of passage was learning to how ride a bike without training wheels. This new transportation freedom made it much easier to get around than walking. Of course, there were less cars around there then there are in our Paris neighborhood. The narrower streets with more cars make it more dangerous to bike, especially for children who don't always look out for cars, pedestrians, etc.

Our older 2 kids have learned how to ride bikes in the recreation court of their school. That's one advantage of being here, as the kids start much earlier than I ever did with a bike. So even though our kids don't have good bikes, they already know how to ride them much earlier than I did.

To encourage less cars, Paris has had since last year these bike stations all around the city where one can borrow a bike for a small fee. We haven't tried this yet, although my wife would like to. As her family biked together, she seems biking as a normal part of life.

It's funny what is normal for our kids: living on the 4th floor of a 14 story apartment builing, taking the elevator to our apartment, being in a multicultural classroom, having French as the first language at school, not having bikes, etc. But this is most of what they know, as they have grown up in this system. It's home to them.