Vélib comes to Tokyo?

First CMWC and Bicycle Film Festival, now Vélib?

Many Positivistas may have read about or enjoyed the popular Vélib (vélo libre or vélo liberté) rental bicycle program rolled out in Paris in 2007, now up to 20,000 cycles at stations 300 meters apart throughout the city (official Velib web site is HERE).

There is now an experimental program in Tokyo with a station on Naka-Dori in front of my office building (Shin Maru Biru). The bicycles … look a bit less tank-like than those in Paris, and are designed for the Japanese physique. But nonetheless, a sign of progress here.