Thursday 4 October 2012

Paris Autolib an early success.

 
There are now 1,750 Bollore Bluecars parked at 670 kiosks along the streets of Paris,as the Autlib car-sharing system proves a success.

More than 37,000 people have already joined the system, and Autolib' enrolls another 1,200 every week.

The Bluecars have been rented more than 500,000 times in 10 months, covering more than 3 million miles (5 million km) in total.

Today, they are rented 4,000 to 5,000 times a week, with highest usage on the weekends. You can't spend 15 minutes in central Paris without seeing one pass by on the street.

When all 3,000 cars are on the streets, they are expected to travel 40 million zero-emission miles (60 million km) a year, collectively reducing emissions by the equivalent of 22,500 cars in Paris.

While users were predominantly men at first, more and more women are taking to the Autolib' system. Most users are 25 to 39 years old, and 70 percent of them do not own a car.

Most interesting, because the cars don't have to be returned to the original station, fully 90 percent of the trips are one-way. The car is dropped at a different Autolib' kiosk, just as it is for Velolib bikes.

By the end of next year there may bas 3,000 Bluecars in operation. Wow.