Having missed a train-to-plane connection in Charles De Gaulle airport a couple of weeks ago I found myself with a few hours to spend near Paris. Rather than trudge around the city centre with my baggage I decided to visit Parc La Villette, which is closer to the airport and is a relaxing place to spend a sunny afternoon.

I couldn’t resist trying out the Vélib cycle hire system. The bikes are very different to the Ridgeback Element I normally use for my daily commute and my treasured Brompton I use when I want to go multimodal on the train or plane; so different that I managed to bash my shin on the locking mechanism. It took me awhile to get used to the heaviness and lack of maneuverability, made worse by putting my heavy hand baggage in the bike’s front basket.

Initially I struggled with the registration and credit card procedures, but eventually got the hang of it. I returned the bike to the same stand I hired it from, but I can see the advantage in being able to pick up and drop off at different locations across Paris.

The scheme is experiencing some problems with theft and vandalism, as noted here, but the municipality is taking steps to address these by developing a new version of the bike and is demonstrating its commitment by proposing to extend the scheme further into the suburbs, as described here.

Radical initiatives and projects to improve sustainability are certain to meet varying degrees of resistance from some (or all) sections of society. The hard part in promoting these changes is in deciding early on whether they are worth persevering with or should be abandoned. One of the best guides to making tough decisions is Seth Godin’s The Dip which advocates quitting fast and often as a strategy to avoid dead-ends.

Although The Dip is a lighthearted look at how to get through (or avoid) the hard part in bringing projects to fruition, there are lessons that can be applied to more serious types of project, such as those that will be needed to realise sustainable cities. The Vélib cycle scheme is one that requires pushing through its current dip. In sustainable development we will need lots of innovative projects, many of which will never get past the dip, but that’s okay. It’s alright to be wrong.

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