Velib' Freeride

They haven't lost 'half the fleet'--most of them are recovered.

Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.
There might be a cycling network untouched by traffic but this is not going to be very useful for getting from A to B. People are going to need to feel that it is safe to cycle around their area or down to the shops, things area improving but aren't at that level yet.

There is already a cycle hire thing in London, there's some yellow bikes parked across some of west London (some outside Hammersmith station) called swan cycles or something. Iv not seen people use them, maybe they do, who knows.