Footwear Hire Stations in Paris

Hot on the successful launch this summer of a city bike scheme in Paris, an enterprising actor has decided he can follow suite with a network of ‘footwear hire stations’ in the city. Starting off at a charge of ‘€0’, you can hire footwear and walk around Paris ‘using your feet’. The new scheme is called ‘Piélib’, a derivation on the name of the city bike scheme itself, which is called ‘Velib’. The first footwear hire station was launched on Saturday in the XI arrondissement of the city, lead by its creator, Sébastien Brochot, a 25 year old actor, who was assisted by around 30 of his colleagues. The team set up their Piélib at one of the existing bike stations, when the usual line of bikes for hire was replaced by an assortment of shoes, boots, slippers, and trainers for hire. Of course, the whole thing is a spoof, but it is one that has caught the imagination of the city in almost as big a way as the successful bike scheme itself. On the video recording of the launch, actors can be seen explaining with all sincerity the merits of the scheme, and hoping for the early establishment of a complete network of such stations right across the city. The creator of the Piélib also launched a second amusing video, in which he plays the role of a chiropodist explaining the purpose of feet and how to walk. Partners in the scheme are stated on their web site to be ‘Chiropodists without Frontiers’ and ‘Shoelaces for Everyone’. Explaining the origin of the idea the actor stated, ‘I love the Velib scheme, but I found it impossible to find a hire bike. So, I walked home, and thought to myself how enjoyable it was to walk. With that, I developed the idea for Piélib. Since its launch on 15th July, the Velib bike scheme has seen around 3 million users, and over 60,000 Parisiens’ have taken out an annual contract with the scheme. Bikes shops say the success of the scheme is putting their own future in peril. The same outlook can be safely predicted for the Piélib initiative!