Combine ZipCar-style checkout with the flexibility of bike sharing and you get Autolib', Paris' new car sharing system.
With Autolib', you can drive the car one-way and find your own way back if you like, but there's a catch: you can only leave it at a designated Autolib' spot, and you have to plug it in.
Yonah Freemark has the story:
"There will be 1,120 stations by next year (up from 33 currently), with 508 planned in the city itself."
"Paris is not the first to pioneer point-to-point car share at a large scale, though it is the first to do so with a fully electric fleet. Car2Go, a subsidiary of car manufacturer Daimler, has since 2008 provided such a car sharing option first in Ulm and then in Austin, Hamburg, and now Vancouver with two-seater Smart Cars, which Daimler makes. The expansion of Car2Go suggests that the point-to-point model is economically profitable and that people appreciate the concept."
Read the full story: Car Sharing 2.0 Leaps Forward in Paris
Electric Car Share Comes to Detroit’s Eastside
The program is operated by the Eastside Community Network and funded through the U.S. Department of Energy.
Car Sharing Co-op Boosts Mobility in California’s Central Valley
A nonprofit electric car sharing program offers hourly or daily rentals recently expanded to San Joaquin County.
Sacramento Plans for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
The city wants to install a network of more than 3,000 charging stations, with a focus on underserved communities.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority