Paris to offer self service green car hire

First it was self-service bicycles, and now Paris is getting ready to launch a green scheme to make electric cars available to drivers at pick-up and drop-off points throughout the city.

The city’s Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, made the announcement this past week that beginning in late 2009, 4000 electric cars will be made available at various self-service locations in Paris and the outskirts for drivers to use on short trips. This would be the first electric car programme of its kind in a European capital.

“This could revolutionise transport,” commented Delanoë to French radio. His plan has actually doubled the projected number of cars from 2000 to 4000, and expanded the area of coverage to beyond the Paris ring road.

In under a year, the city’s army of on-street bicycles-for-hire called Vélib’ has transformed Parisians’ awareness of bicycles and changed the transport habits of a good number of locals. The proposed fleet of carbon-neutral cars-for-hire is the mayor’s next step in turning Paris transport green.

Paris city hall has planned for 700 Autolib pick-up points across the metropolitan Paris area, with 200 of them to be underground. A driver will be able to pick up a car somewhere in the city’s east, for example, and drop it off somewhere else after completing a short journey.

“There will be a computerised system which allows you as soon as you collect the car to announce where you’ll drop it off, so there will be a parking space available,” Delanoë explained.

The scheme would operate in a similar manner to the Vélib’ bike programme. Users will be able to subscribe to the service annually, or hire a car on the spot. Recharging points for the electric cars will be strategically placed across the city.