I have just spent another wonderful weekend in Paris, sightseeing, partying, seeing friends and relaxing. I love Paris and have spent many happy times there but my trips to the French capital now have an added element of fun. Instead of just walking around or catching the Metro, I get to cycle just like in Oxford thanks to their widespread public bicycle sharing system, Vélib.

It was the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, who decided to set up a self-service bike rental scheme in Paris, and the Vélib system was launched in 2007. The name Vélib comes from a mixture of the word vélo and liberté, literally translated as bicycle and liberty.

Delanoë had been mayor since 2001. Being a keen supporter of green initiatives he hoped that Vélib would encourage people to cycle instead of drive, helping to reduce some of the pollution in the capital. Back in 2007 he couldn’t have imagined how popular cycling would become and the system now has around 20,000 bicycles and 1,230 docking stations, located across Paris. I have used the Vélib before for a bit of sightseeing but last weekend saw my friends and I using them even more than the Metro system. However, with four of us to cater for we did run into some problems.

The biggest issue is the number of broken bikes. The Parisians have devised their own solution to the issue of identifying such problem bikes and avoiding them – you simply turn the saddle round after you finish, warning the next user. But even after being this careful one of you gets a dud and it’s immediately apparent who it is as you get relegated to cycling at the back because you are too slow. What’s more, your bike sounds like the equivalent of a wheezing old man.

The next problem we encountered was finding enough bikes in the first place. If you’re on your own this isn’t too much of an issue but with four people you end up walking around, sometimes stopping at four different docking stations just to find enough working bikes to get the group going.

Although fundamentally the Vélib is a great system it has these downsides. The system also deters you from wanting to help rectify broken bikes as it penalises you if you do report an issue.

Interestingly since 2007 cycling is said to have increased by 41 per cent and the Vélib only represents a third of those journeys, so although there were fears bike sales would fall in the capital they actually rose as the Vélib encouraged more cycling overall. Although Oxford has its own mini version of the Vélib in Headington it was always suggested our town would never benefit from a city-wide bike sharing system.

I must admit I couldn’t see it taking off as it has in Paris but then the French capital is testament that you don’t know until you try.