French look to mass car sharing in Paris

A bike-sharing scheme launched in Paris a year ago has proved so popular that the city’s mayor wants to extend it to include electric cars.

Bertrand Delanoe’s latest idea is for a driver to pick up one of the cars at a park on the Left Bank, snake up the slopes of Montmartre, then drop it off – and only pay for the minutes spent behind the wheel.

However, cars, even electric, are already proving more divisive than bikes. With the price of petrol steadily rising and parking in Paris a permanent headache, some drivers are delighted by the new project.

Others see it as a step backward, fearing it could mean more traffic and dependence on cars in an already congested city.

Mr Delanoe announced a programme dubbed Autolib’ that will launch in late 2009 or early 2010 with a fleet of 4,000 electric cars – 2,000 within Paris and 2,000 in the city’s suburbs. As with the Velib’ bike-sharing scheme, Autolib’ users would be able to rent cars from one of 700 planned parking spots, both under and above ground, and drop them off at any other.

Car-sharing is a growing trend in many countries, with private companies such as Zipcar flourishing in cities as petrol prices go up. The Autolib’ project, however, will be run by the city of Paris.

Annick Lepetit, deputy mayor in charge of transportation, said Autolib’ would target those who are considering buying their first car – in the hopes of deterring them from ever making the purchase.

She said a recent survey showed that a majority of Parisians are in favour of a car-sharing project, including many who have licences but no car.

Finance for the project is still in the planning stages, and according to Lepetit, zero-emission hybrids could be an alternative solution if the city does not find a carmaker with the capacity to provide 4,000 electric cars in time.

A similar programme – but with petrol-powered vehicles – was pioneered in Lyon in 2003 and now has a fleet of 50 cars.

Should the future Parisian Autolib’ meet the same success as its two-wheel counterpart, it could provide a valuable boost for the capital’s mayor, who hopes to clinch the leadership of France’s Socialist party later this year.

Velib’, which began a year ago, has changed the Parisian landscape with 16,000 silver bikes lined up at 1,200 parking spots throughout the city. It was quickly adopted by Parisians, with 29 million rentals in a year and more than 200,000 annual subscribers.