AP Paris Staff Commutes Creatively During Strike

By: What comes to mind when you think of cycling in France? Lovers biking through the countryside on their way to a picnic? Superhuman athletes pedaling through the Alps? A stripe-shirted man with a beret on his head and a baguette under his arm?

Try harried commuters weaving through traffic-choked city streets ? a common sight this week in Paris, where a strike that started Wednesday has slashed service on the city's mass transit system and forced commuters to rely on bikes, skates and their own two feet.

The journalists at the Paris bureau of The Associated Press have poured considerable energy into covering the strike ? the first major challenge to President Nicolas Sarkozy's wide-ranging reform plans. And in order to do their jobs, they've needed to find a way to get to work, just like everyone else in Paris.

Here's how some of them have pulled it off on the first two days of the strike:

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Debbie Seward

Special Editor

Usual commute: 25 minutes, from Cambronne Metro stop in the 15th district of southern Paris to the AP office in the more central 8th district.

Strike commute: 25 minutes. Really. Left an hour later than usual to try to miss the early crush ? and did.

Quote: "My line, which takes you past the Eiffel Tower, is always crammed. Today was one of those days when I just didn't mind the crush. I was grateful to squeeze in the Metro doors, especially when I saw the despondent eyes of those who were left behind on the quay."

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Elizabeth Ryan

Intern

Usual commute: 45 minutes on the Metro from the 13th district, near Place d'Italie.

Strike commute: 45 minutes by bike, bundled in fleece and spandex.

Quote: "After three months on a strict diet of pastries and chocolate, the strike may help me erase all signs of my gluttony, or give me a good excuse to keep on indulging."

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John Leicester

Bureau Chief

Usual commute: 30-minute train ride from the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris.

Strike commute: 30-minute ride aboard a train that was strangely empty on the strike's first day, but bursting at the seams with bleary-eyed early-morning commuters on the second.

Quote: "Wish I owned a motorbike."

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Jenny Barchfield

Correspondent

Usual commute: 15 minutes by rent-a-bike from the 16th district, just west of the AP office.

Strike commute: 25 minutes jogging with a bouncing backpack containing a change of clothes. (During transit strikes, it's virtually impossible to get a rental bike ? too much competition.)

Quote: "Strikes are just about the only thing that make it OK to arrive at an office in France looking like you just got out of a sauna."

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Angela Charlton

Correspondent

Usual commute: 40 minutes from Pierre et Marie Curie Metro station southeast of Paris.

Strike commute: 50 minutes on foot and by the only automated subway line, which runs with no drivers. (Tried bike during the last strike, but rusty handlebar broke off mid-intersection.)

Quote: "Times like this, I celebrate technological progress."

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Angela Doland

Correspondent

Usual commute: A 30-minute bus ride through northern Paris.

Strike commute: Worked from home on the first day, sitting on the couch with a laptop and a cup of coffee.

Quote: "Strike? What strike?"

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Elaine Ganley

Correspondent

Usual commute: Half-hour on Metro from Port Royal, in the 6th district in southern Paris.

Strike commute: 40 minutes on "trotinette" ? a child's scooter ? and nearly an hour on foot.

Quote: "Pumping through town on a child's scooter does more than build leg muscle. It opens up a whole new perspective on Paris, from the heavenly cityscape to the cracks in the sidewalk, and on myself."

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Jamey Keaten

Correspondent

Usual commute: 15-minute bike ride ? mostly downhill ? from Montmartre in northern Paris. Excruciating 20-minute ride back home.

Strike commute: Same as above, with a little more dodging of bottlenecked traffic.

Quote: "Colleagues, I've been telling you for ages: Cycling's the best way to get around this city!"