La Rochelle, France, and the invention of bike sharing public policy in the 1970s.

The paper addresses an innovation in the history of transport as well as in the history of public policy. During the 1970s, the mid-sized city of La Rochelle (France) was probably the first place where an institutionalised bike sharing system was implemented. Crossing the materials of the local archives with the global dynamics of urban policies and mobility practices in Europe at that time explains the emergence of this innovation and allows reflection on the legacy of a forgotten first experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]