There is a great idea in Paris to have a fleet of electric cars available for anybody to rent.
It is described in this article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10756288
This should allow Paris to reduce parking congestion, reduce chemical pollution, reduce noise pollution, and reduce the consumption of scarce resources required to build cars for everybody.
However at the bottom of the article we find the problem. Instead of allowing this great idea to set a benchmark for cities to improve their quality of life and conservation credibility, two parties are vehemently opposed: taxi drivers and rental car companies. They are opposed for purely selfish reasons – they will lose money!
Instead of just opposing this, they should look for new opportunities – the electric cars are short distance only, so both taxis and rentals could focus on long distance possibilities; the electric car stations are not on everyone’s front door – people will still need taxis to get to them; and at four seats, they will never get the lads out to the party together.
But instead of planning on future strategies in a changing world, these two groups have just shouted – give us back the past where we made lots of profit, bugger the planet.
Tags: autolib, Bollore, car-sharing, electric car, environmental solutions, Paris, reduce carbon emissions
