Green car scheme mooted for Paris, but not everyone is happy: Bristol follows Paris as UK's first Cycling City

First came self-service bicycles, and now Paris is launching a green scheme to provide electric cars that drivers can pick up and drop off anywhere in the city. Mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced yesterday that from the end of next year, 4,000 electric cars will be placed around Paris and its outskirts for drivers in the scheme to help themselves for short journeys. It is the first electric car project of its kind in a capital city.

'This could revolutionise transport,' Delanoë told French radio. He has doubled the projected cars from 2,000 to 4,000 and expanded the target area beyond Paris's ring road.

However, it's clear that you can't please all the people all the time: Green campaigners are warning that electric cars may encourage users to abandon public transport and cycling schemes. In London, detractors point out that 3,000 of the Parisian bicycles 'disappeared' and have since been found in Romania and Australia.

But Bristol is not deterred. The city intends to double the number of cyclists over the next three years with a series of innovations.

Sharing the funding will be York, Stoke, Blackpool, Cambridge, Chester, Colchester, Leighton Buzzard, Southend, Shrewsbury, Southport and Woking.

Among the features in Bristol will be the UK's first major bicycle rental network, modelled on the scheme in Paris.

The government is giving Bristol £11.4m to transform cycling by creating dedicated cycle lanes, better facilities and more training for children.

Read the article in The Guardian