<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"> <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> I am often asked about the state of plans for extending Vélib to the neighboring cities, and if you go to the latest Vélib newsletter at <a href="http://velib.centraldoc.com/newsletter/">http://velib.centraldoc.com/newsletter/</a> you will have a reasonably clear statement on how this is going to work. Again, to get a rough translation, as per the following extracts, you cut and paste the original text into <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#">http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#</a>. No problem, eh? Eric Britton<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> A decision of the state Friday July 11 2008, a few days before the anniversary of Vélib ', the State Council validated the legality of the amendment and defended by the City of Paris. The council of Paris voted the principle of extending Vélib 'to neighboring December 19 2007. Vélib stations' will be located in a strip of 1, 5 km from Paris, in the main lines linking common to the capital. The stations would be equipped with about 25 attachment points and supplemented stations called "relaxed". Following the establishment of this convention, working meetings were held between the municipalities, communities agglomeration and the City of Paris to study possible locations of the stations.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Three questions to Patrick Lefebvre, General Engineer of Technical Services and Chief displacements City Hall of Paris. How to spend the consultations with the Commons? Collaborations between communities and the City of Paris are rich and successful. It is a work between the elected officials but also with technical society SOMUPI. The City of Paris is fortunate, because of its size, have technical specialists in very specific areas. The smaller communities have not always so fortunate. The Technical Services certain municipalities are sometimes forced to use outside firms to obtain specific plans concerning the nature of sub-soil, electrical connections possible and to make technical instructions necessary for the establishment of new stations. Our goal remains the establishment of all stations for the second quarter of 2009. How do you pending Vélib 'in the surrounding communities? There is a real enthusiasm among our partners. It is for them to offer a new means of transport to their people, thus promoting intermodality. We must not forget that 15% of annual subscribers are residents of neighboring Paris! The satisfaction survey conducted in March, which also questioned the occasional subscribers (tickets 1 day, 7 days), showed that nearly 33% of users come from the suburbs! So there is a real expectation that we, City of Paris and our partners are trying to answer. What are the selection criteria for the location of stations? A major study was conducted by a specialized body to determine the future location of such stations. The study takes into account many indicators such as employment areas, the density of the population through habitat areas, commercial activities. In a second phase of consultations were undertaken with our partners to endorse these settlements. The study was adjusted in both the total number of stations (300 maximum) and "Band 1 500 m since the territorial limits of Paris. The maximum number of attachment points on a common equals the number of stations increased by 25. For example, all stations located near the Bois de Vincennes and Boulogne, for reasons of fluidity, will double to fastening 50 points in total!<o:p></o:p> </div> </body> </html>