Free Cars! - Tuesday, 9 April

OK, now, don't get TOO excited!  This is just a post about the "Autolib' " system of rent-by-the-hour electric cars in Paris.  I happened to see a parking/charging station across the street from my bus stop this afternoon, so it seems like the right time to write about it!

This system is modeled after the spectacularly successful "Velib' " system of bicycle stands and rentals all over town (and I just noticed that the cars are pretty much the same color as the bicycles).  Gosh, some days it seems as if bicycles are the second most common mode of transportation next to feet, and the Velib' bicycles are a huge percentage of the ones you see around here.

Anyway, back to the cars.  Assuming that one is brave enough to drive in Paris, one subscribes to this service on a daily, weekly or annual basis.  You present your driver's license when you subscribe.  Then you just find one of these charging stations when you need a car, enter your credentials, drive the car to your destination (which is hopefully near another charging station), and hook up the car at your destination station.  You pay between 6 and 8 euro ($8-10) per half-hour.  Of course, part of the trick is finding stations close to your locations and finding available cars there (and having the aforementioned guts to drive in Paris), but it must be a handy service for people who meet those criteria!  (Not for me!)