Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Quai aux Fleurs - Autolib




There has been much written in the press (and blogs) since Autolibs appeared in Paris on December 1, 2011.  I saw my first of these in January on the way to a party with friends.  


The concept is fascinating: 
You jump in the car, ride to another location, and walk away. 
I hope that they do not lose any of them!


Quai aux Fleurs
Île de la Cité
75004, Paris



23 comments:

  1. Bonjour Genie, j'aime beaucoup tes reportages, car tu as une vision tout autre de ma Capitale qu'est PARIS. j'avoue que ton regard est très intéressant, l'oeil est averti car tes photos sont bien saisies...bravo!
    bises
    cath.

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  2. Interesting concept indeed. I hope they will not get suffer as much material damage as the Velib fleet that is costing the city of Paris an arm and a leg! Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)

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  3. Not so simple!The registration is a little complicated, made by cell phone,you must give a lot of information, you must find an other place to leave the car.. But no risk to lose the car, there's a GPS inside.

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  4. Interesting indeed! Are these electric?
    I hope you are having a splendid week, chere Genie!
    Bises,
    - Irina

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  5. Hello Genie:
    We love the idea which gives new meaning to motoring and something which we had not come across until now.

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  6. Neat idea! I hope people play nicely with it.

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  7. I had to Google Autolib to find out more. Thanks to you Genie I learned a lot today

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  8. Wonderful idea. Reading up on it...it seems they are trying to work out the bugs. The car rental companies seem to be up in arms about it!

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  9. ... not in my rural area of Maine yet. hahaha

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  10. The French are always on the cutting edge of anything new! This reminds me of a relay race. HA :)

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  11. Is it like zipcar? Why is the car tied up like that though? It reminds me of a bike lock.

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  12. Very interesting Genie. My son just
    happened to be sitting here and thought this was a cool idea. Thanks for sharing. Lisa

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  13. This is a great idea but to make sure that your readers don’t think they can go to Paris and jump in a car just like that they need to know that a subscription is needed. You can subscribe for a year of use, month, week, etc. There is a site in French for the Paris Autolib and another one in English, the European site : http://www.autolib.eu/ where people can find accurate information.

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  14. Definitely cutting edge and clever logo. Is the objective to reduce the number of private cars in the city? Seems to me the metro does the trick already. They may have to go the London Plan and charge a fee for driving within the perimeter of the city. Apparently that has noticeably reduced street traffic. Bonne chance to this initiative.

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  15. I love this idea and hope, one day, to experience it.

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  16. Good for rainy days when you don't want to take the bike. It's one of the things I love about the French—they're not afraid to try things!

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  17. I heard about those! I wonder how it is working out. Doesn't France do that with bikes also?

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  18. I think it would be better to limit cars in major cities, or better yet, just declare cities no-car zones. Pedestrians would be safer and less noisy, and think of all the extra space for cafes, they wouldn't be limited to sidewalks!!

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  19. This is a great idea, Genie. I hope it works.

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  20. Irina, yes, these are electric and "green"

    Vagabond is correct in her comments. If you will click on the link "Autolib" it will take you to an article about the cars.

    I think that the jury is still out on the cars. Certainly, it is difficult to be qualified to actually rent one of these. It is difficult enough for an American to rent a Velib as we do not have the same type of credit cards.

    Lisa, the Velibs are abundant but as Veronique has pointed out, they cost the city dearly.

    Oh, the tether here is for the electricity charge. It reminds me a bit of a horse tied up at the corral. Hummmm, I think I've seen too many Westerns - hah!

    Bises,
    Genie

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  21. In Vienna we have a similar thing, "car2go", but those cars are not green.

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  22. Wow, that IS a fascinating concept. Would it work in American cities, i wonder? :D

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  23. I would say European culture is more used to sharing & to public transportation than American culture...so would it work in US? it seems to be a great idea...

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Merci for your comments!