Paris to introduce Chevalib city horse rental programme!

The Tower and the Horse by moonsoleil

While the G20 discusses climate change at their London summit. The mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë has stolen their thunder by announcing a new horse rental programme that is hoped will eventually replace cars in the French capital.

From 1st April 2010 Paris will introduce Chevalib which is similar to the Velib bicycle rental programme except that it will run with horses! You will be able to rent a horse for as little as one Euro for half an hour at one of the many planned horse stations situated throughout Paris. Once you’ve finished with the animal you can hand it back it at another terminal.

This scheme will work on several levels. Firstly, it will reduce reliance on the motor car thus cutting pollution and climate emissions, secondly the manure produced by the animal will be sent to farms and applied to crops in place of artificial fertilizer and thirdly once the animal has gone beyond its use for carrying people it can be killed and eaten!

Because of the harshness of the urban terrain a more sturdy type of horse is being imported from the Isles of San Seriffe.

This is an amazing new scheme let’s hope that other cities around the world join soon. It may not be suitable to every place in the world but as they say, it’s horses for courses.