Saturday, June 02, 2012

A journey to Versailles in Autolib


I already mentioned Autolib twice on this blog (here and here). It's a car sharing system that allows you to pick up a car from any station in Paris and suburbs and drop it in any station, when you return... Well, for the 1st time today I used it (to go to Versailles). The system is very well made. All you need is to scan your licence and ID and swipe a credit card in one of their stations, then choose your plan (I took a daily one for 10 €/ 24 hours and 14€/hour) and get familiar with the driving of an electric car (it's really not very different from "normal" cars). Cherry on the cake ; the whole system remembers the radio stations you memorized so that the next time you take a car, your favorite radios are already preset!

13 comments:

  1. I was wondering if you would test this out and report back to us. Such a good idea for big cities, where it's just a pain to own a car. (BTW, NYC is getting bike stations—like Velib—in July!)

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  2. What is the name of the street where the women of Paris marched to Versailles demanding bread? Your photo reminds me of that street -- but, I can't really tell because it is a photo.

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  3. I thought services like this were only for bikes, there's cars too! Amazing. There should be one in every major city!

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  4. Very interesting to hear about your experience with Autolib. I hope major cities in the US are able to provide this service, too, sometime in the future.

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  5. There are cities in the US that offer this kind of service - they're called Zip Cars. San Francisco and Portland, Oregon are full of them.
    Thanks for telling us about these, Eric.

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  6. Eric, knowing how much you love gadgets and tech stuff, I'm surprised it's taken you so long to try this out. :-)
    Hope you got your speed down to 30 in time.

    We're getting ready for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee bash over here in the UK. Huge flotilla of 1,000 boats on the Thames tomorrow plus lots of events, street parties sore heads etc. over a four day weekend. It's the Royal Wedding all over again!

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  7. I pulled up next to one of these in traffic in LA the other day, too. I was surprised as I really thought there were at least 3 cars per person required for LA residency! ; ) I'm glad to see them. I think the bikes are coming soon too.

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  8. @Alexa
    That's a very, very scary thought. NY drivers have no respect for pedestrians I can only imagine tourists in bikes! Yikes

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  9. @Alexa " (BTW, NYC is getting bike stations—like Velib—in July!)" Cool, I hope it'll be as successful as it is here.

    @Lois "What is the name of the street where the women of Paris marched to Versailles demanding bread?" Huh... I don't know! I just checked and - I totally forgot about that! - women did march towards Versailles to "bring the king back to Pairs", but did not succeed. No street name though.

    @Vera "I thought services like this were only for bikes, there's cars too! Amazing. There should be one in every major city!" I agree, it's really a great idea.

    MS M "Very interesting to hear about your experience with Autolib. I hope major cities in the US are able to provide this service, too" Er... maybe but it'll be hard. Americans love their car don't they?

    @Christine "There are cities in the US that offer this kind of service - they're called Zip Cars." Yes but with a zip car you must return it to were you took it (we have that too here). It's not very convenient, especially if you simply need it to go from one spot to another. With Autolib, you just take the car, drop it where you go (therefore don't pay for the rental anymore) then take one back when you return.


    @Drummond" Eric, knowing how much you love gadgets and tech stuff, I'm surprised it's taken you so long to try this out. :-)"
    True! I was just lacking an occasion!

    "Hope you got your speed down to 30 in time." Only YOU would notice this!!

    About the Queen... It's a big thing here too. It'll be covered live on French TV tomorrow! I won't miss it;-)

    @Anne Reeves. That is fabulous! Have fun! I had! (and I don't forget about your book - actually I did ;-) but I will mention it asap in one of my posts.

    @Carrie " I think the bikes are coming soon too." Excellent. Although I don't think I would drive a bike in MA, but that's another story LOL!

    @Sylvia "That's a very, very scary thought. NY drivers have no respect for pedestrians I can only imagine tourists in bikes! Yikes" But they will mostly be used by New Yorkers, won't they?

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  10. Fabulous, Eric! I do believe that there is an Autolib right out your front door as I remember. Have a great weekend and report back!

    Bises,
    Genie

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  11. http://www.phillycarshare.com/

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  12. Fun! I love the preset radio stations. What a great idea! We don't have the population to do something like that around here, but in a large city, it would be brilliant.

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