Last summer, I had the opportunity to spend a week in an apartment in Paris’s 6th. The wonderful 1920s building overlooked a transportation solution even older: bicycles.

But Paris’s popular Velib bike-sharing program has a modern twist, an automated rental system run entirely by unmanned kiosks that accept only debit and credit cards.

Subscribers (29 Euros annually, 5 Euros weekly) can ride the bikes free for the first half hour, then the price rises steeply to 3 Euros per hour and higher. But with stations every 300 meters, you can tool around the city very cost effectively. That is, if you are not American. 

Why? Our old-school mag-stripe cards are no longer in step with the international gold standard of security, the imbedded computer chip unlocked by PIN entry, i.e., chip & pin or EMV. 

At most European merchants, it’s not a problem. They are plenty willing to take the old-school mag stripe card in order to make the sale. Last year, we never had any trouble using plastic from our friends at Wells Fargo and Bank of America. But in certain situations, such as unattended ticket machines, U.S. cardholders can be out of luck.  

The Paris bikes are one very visible place where mag strip cards are not honored (see note 1). That explains the perplexed tourists I watched last summer struggling at the Velib kiosks trying repeatedly to get the machine to release a bike.

Financial institution opportunity: Here’s a great way to pick up market share among well-heeled international travelers. Offer a chip & pin prepaid card. It’s a modern-day travelers check, something every traveler will tuck in their wallets and purses, then forget about when they get home (note 2). And it’s perfect for Internet distribution, especially if you issue cards nationwide.

Besides card fees, interchange, and travelers-check-like float, first movers could gain real market share with a great demographic.

According to Payments News, Gemalto is offering a chip-and-pin solution for U.S. card issuers. A few weeks ago, United Nations Federal Credit Union became the first U.S. financial institution to announce deployment of the Gemalto card (press release). The CU says it will be available in the second half of 2010. But, you’ll have to be on staff at the UN to get it.

Notes:
1. Apparently, there is an exception. American Express cards, with or without a chip, can be used at Velib machines. I wish I’d known that when I was in Paris.  
2. Closer to home, Canada is also in the process of converting to the new standard.
3. Photo credit: Clive Andrews. This was the typical tourist look at the Velib kiosk queue, utter confusion.