First shared bikes, now shared cars

Paris introduced the bike sharing program called Velib a year ago (with much success), now they plan to do the same with electric cars.

The Guardian newspaper reports that 4,000 electric cars, called Autolib, will be put to use around the city and its outlying areas - and it will be the first electric car sharing scheme in the world:

"Paris city hall said 700 Autolib pick-up points would be set up across the Paris area, 200 of which will be underground. A driver could pick up a car, for example, in the east of the city and drop it off in the west after a short journey."

Read the full story: Paris plans help-yourself green car hire

Sharing bicycles in Paris

The Washington Post has published an article about the French capital's new shared public transportation bicycles. The Velibs, which is a clever combination of the French name for bicycle, velo and freedom, liberte, can be cheaply rented around the city by just using your credit card:

"Here's how it works: Velibs can be picked up and dropped off at any of a thousand stations around the capital, where users insert credit cards into a machine to sign up for a day (one euro, or about $1.40), a week (five euros) or a year (29 euros). A fee of $205 is taken from your account if the bike is not returned. Caveat: At this point, only smart-chip Visa cards and America Express cards are accepted.

The system is designed to encourage short journeys: After paying your subscription fee and picking up a bike, the first half-hour is free. The second half-hour costs one euro, the third costs two euros and a fourth would cost an added four euros, to encourage people to stick to the half-hour system."

So using a bike to get around is a green way to see Paris.

Read the full story: Free wheeling: Paris's new bike system