Monday, November 07, 2011

A world premiere?

This may not be the most beautiful photo you've ever seen on PDP, but it's one that is worth remembering... Why? Because it shows an Autolib station being installed. Autolib? It's the car equivalent to Velib. Now I can hear you from here: "What? he dares calling this a world premiere, whereas in my city we have had Car sharing for years now..." All wrong. What you have is "hourly car rental": you take a car down the street, but you have to bring it back where you took it, within a pretty precise time frame. With Autolib, you take the car at the nearest station and you drop it at the closest station near your destination. And when you return, you do the same. This way you only pay for a small journey. The service will open in December, I'll come back to it, of course...

22 comments:

  1. Fascinating. This, indeed, is worth watching to see if it is successful. The Velibe idea is sweeping the U.S. I now see people riding all over Minneapolis on the "Nice Ride MN" bikes. (Heck, the bikes are better quality than mine, that's for sure.)

    I would love to see the concept transfer to automobiles.

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  2. Cool! Chicago has something similar with cars = "I-Go". Cool ideas - I hope they catch on.

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  3. Of course Paris would be first with this. I hope it's a success.

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  4. What a great idea. Only I would never ever dare to drive in Paris :o)

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  5. Autolib + WiFi + Velib + PayPal + ???
    We have come a long way baby...

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  6. ooh!! maybe next year I could try this when I visit!! ok, ok, I'm joking of course! I have yet to do the velib and I have one in my street (in Paris!) :-) I know, I know, I have yet to ride shotgun on your scooter too Eric!! :-)

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  7. ooh it showed *** .. when I typed in the equivalent word to your motorbike?? I'm sure I typed it right!! LOL

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  8. More Velib' stations everymonth, and now Autolib' stations...
    Result : I can't anymore park my car in my street... ;-(
    I use Velib' regularly, even sometimes to go from where I've found a place for my car to my home ;-)

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  9. You mean like "City Car Club" http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/

    available in Edinburgh where I live :)

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  10. Déjà en démo Place Victor Hugo depuis un mois notamment.

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  11. Just had at look at the Autolib site. As Eric said, it's a different concept from city car club. I can foresee some fun and games with this initially.

    PS I have found a wonderful new app on my browser. When I clicked to translate the Autolib page to English, the song on the little video had translated itself to English as well.
    Amazing. :)

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  12. Interesting...I can see it being quite handy for those who don't have a car and who live in a large city. Out here ye olde boondocks, not so much. :) But do you think it is something you will use quite a bit, Eric? As the weather becomes less suitable for scooting?

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  13. @Red Cardinal "You mean like "City Car Club" http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/" I see... But no it's not the same. Precisely because you have to bring back the car to where you picked it up. Whereas in the Autolib case, you take it at a station near you (not need to book), and you drop it where you go (no late return fees).

    @Drummond "When I clicked to translate the Autolib page to English, the song on the little video had translated itself to English as well.
    Amazing. :)" LOOOOL See, how we gave in to your beautiful language?! (For 5sec you really got me wonder what this new app was about though LOL!)

    @Christie "But do you think it is something you will use quite a bit, Eric" no I won't because I have my scooter. But I think the idea is really clever (I'm not sure it'll work as good as Velib though)

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  14. Now this is a great idea. I don't think I'll try it though, as Paris traffic scares the pants off of me!
    V

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  15. I'm a bit skeptical I have to say. I mean, what would you need it for in Paris? Even if you say "to go to Ikea", they're not big enough to put anything in to be worth it. I'm all for Velib and Metro personally. Or in Roniece's case, walking late at night. Verrry late I hear.

    LOL Thib!

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  16. What do you do if there aren't enough spaces at the place where you want to return the car or bike you borrowed?

    I ask this because someone (perhaps Virginia or Genie) posted a photo of a Velib station on a rainy day that looked like every position was full.

    Bettina and Roniece, I wouldn't dare drive in Paris either!

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  17. I wouldn't drive in Paris either! (Oh, wait—I don't drive anywhere.) I'll be very interested to see how many of these stations there are around Paris. Your dinner guests will stay forever now, Eric, if they don't have to hurry off to catch the last metro. :~}

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  18. @Petrea "What do you do if there aren't enough spaces at the place where you want to return the car or bike you borrowed?"
    Good question as, you're right, it's one of the biggest problems. In fact with the bikes it's not too bad as there are many stations. With cars it'll be harder as there won't be that many stations (250 if I remember). But I suppose they will build new ones if the system is successful.

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  19. Yes! Like the I-go car in Chicago! Although you have to book it online in advance though, but it's pretty easy to do.

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  20. In Austin (TX, USA) we have Car2Go. The little cars can be parked in a number of legal parking spaces (without paying a parking fee) as well as some special places just for them to end a rental. A phone app helps locate one for you to rent. The rental area is only a well-defined central area, though, and if you drive out of it you must continue your rental until you return. But if you want to risk someone else picking up the car inside the area (or you want to take public transportation after you've had some adult beverages), you just end your rental. People seem to be happy with it here.

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  21. Bonjour, ceci existe à PAU ( Pyrénées Atlantiques 64) depuis quasiment un an.

    La capitale n'a pas l'exclusivité mondiale

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