Autolib' is a new service in Paris, on the model of the popular bike-sharing service Vélib', which will rent out small, automatic electric cars by the hour to subscribers (it costs between €10 and €16 an hour and the abonnement/subscription is €144 a year for the highest level of service). Eventually there are going to be more than 500 stations in Paris.
I'm kind of excited! I don't need a car much, which is why I don't have one right now, but sometimes it's hard to get errands done without one, and taxis are unusually hard to find in Paris. I saw this new bubble of a "station" on avenue Victor-Hugo today. People were waiting to sign up. I do wonder how people in the grand building behind it will like the idea. I suspect avenue Victor-Hugo was chosen because of its illegal-double-parking custom.
