FRANCE: Paris launches ‘bubble car’ sharing program
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REPORTING FROM PARIS -- The French capital rolled out the first of its new eco-friendly electric ‘bubble cars’ on Sunday to launch a car-sharing program it hopes will spark a quiet revolution in transport.
Hot on the wheels of Velib’, as Paris’ self-service bicycle scheme is known, comes Autolib’, which city officials claim is the first self-service urban transport program of its kind in the world.
As with the 20,000 bicycles at hundreds of Velib’ stations across the city, anyone wishing to get from Point A to Point B in the French capital will soon be able to pick up an electric Bluecar at one location and drop it off at another.
On an unusually sunny Sunday lunchtime on the Avenue Trudaine in Paris’ family-friendly 9th arrondissement, onlookers gathered around a line of Bluecars brought out for a two-month trial in preparation for the official launch at the beginning of December.
By 2013 city officials plan to have 3,000 to 5,000 environmentally friendly Bluecars stationed at more than 1,000 locations across the city with the aim of cutting noise and air pollution as well as reducing traffic by discouraging private car ownership.
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-- Kim Willsher