Berkeley: Tout Le Monde Aime Le Velo

Paris has embraced bicycling — and, because it’s Paris, it has been done with smooth civic efficiency and lashings of style.

Since July 15, thousands of bicycles became available in Paris at hundreds of self-service docking stations installed around the city. As Eric Rayman recently reported in the New York Times: “Anyone can simply swipe a credit card and ride away on a sturdy, well-maintained three-speed bike, a “vélo” in French. Access to the bikes is available all of the time; it’s liberating, as in “liberté,” so the “Vélib” was born.”

Berkeley is very bicycle-friendly too, although we have yet to be offered “bikes to go” (Mayor Tom take note). Car sharing companies such as City CarShare and Flexcar, have proved popular, so hopefully it can only be a matter of time before the vastly more eco-friendly option of bikes is considered de rigueur.

Meantime, we can take advantage of the city’s many “Bicycle Boulevards” (with their helpful signposts as pictured above). By definition they are less trafficked than other streets, so you might want to consider living there too. These streets currently include: Ninth, California/King, Milvia, Bowditch/Hillegass, Virginia, Channing and Russell.

Here are five homes currently for sale on “BBs”:

1109 Russell Street: a 2/1 with “great bones” on at $579,000.

1646 Russell Street: a 3/1.5 Craftsman on for $699,000.

2526 California Street: a 2/1 Craftsman home priced at $585,000.

1732 Virginia Street: a 1/1 unit in a 1920s building priced $499,000

1326 Virginia Street: a 3/2 remodeled home going for $649,000.

Top photo credit: Ed Alcock for the New York Times.