As mobility in urban areas shifts from commuter
trips to more complex journeys, for various
purposes and covering the whole day, transport
system is expected to take more and more in
account intermodality.
Lille and London are experiencing two
innovative concepts in this field :
– LILLE, main city of the Northern part of
France opened in December 2004 two
«Oxygen Stopovers» in the city center.
In
these futuristic looking buildings, electric
bikes and Segways are available for short
term rental.
This innovative service aims at
competing with car for short trips, allowing
a combined use of public transport and
individual clean modes, as reduced fares are
proposed to public transport cardholders.
This €120,000 project was included in
Keolis bid for public transport network
management contract, granted in 2002.
– LONDON has set up an on demand bike
rental, based on mobile technology.
During summer 2004, first experiments
had been made in the borough of
Hammersmith and Fulham.
Rental areas
are located near tube stations, near public
building, in main interchanges and in car
parks. Bikes are locked with cables equipped
with LCD displays.
Unlocking codes are
sent by SMS. After use, the bike can be
re-locked in any other rental point and the
LCD display provides a pin code that has
to be sent to the service in order to end
the hire period.
Registration and annual
fees amount to £10 (€14) and rental rates
start from 30p for 15 minutes.
Further developments are expected as for
example integration with public transport
travelcards.