Starting next year, the French capital is going to have a lot more electrons flowing through its roadways. After two years of refining the program, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has finally unveiled the Autolib, a new car-sharing program comprising a fleet of 3,000 electric cars. These cars will be available to anyone subscribed at a fee of 15 Euros ($20.88 U.S. at the current exchange rate) per month. To use a car will cost 5 Euros per half hour and the vehicles can be picked up at any of the 700 stations throughout the city. Another perk to the program is guaranteed parking at each of the stations. That is a significant benefit for such a congested city, and could make a lot of people think twice about owning their own car.
The name ‘Autolib’ comes for the city’s sucessful bike-sharing program, Vélib, which started with 20,000 bicycles three years ago. However, administrators are trying to learn from Vélib’s shortcomings, namely, vandalism. In the three short years since the program started, half of the bikes have been destroyed. Paris administrators have asked companies bidding on the new project to develop fitting security measures. If Autolib is a success, it could be a model program for countless other congested cities around the globe.
AutoblogGreen
=> Paris to introduce Autolib electric car-sharing program in 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment