With so many cars on the roads now, most of them hauling only one person, the city traffic gets clogged quite often, keeping people stuck from reaching their destination on time and making them thing if a normal car makes any sense now for the daily commute. Toyota at least, says it doesn’t and that’s why it came up with the i-Road and the Ha:mo sharing service which started to expand recently.
The electric ride-sharing Ha:mo program already got tested in Japan and it seems to work pretty well because Grenoble, in France, is officially offering the same service starting this month.
The city of Grenoble, the Metro Area, French electricity company EDF and its affiliate Sodetrel, Toyota and Cite lib (local car-sharing operator) have worked together to bring the Ha:mo system in the area.
How it works? Pretty simple; users can use an app to reserve and pay to rent an i-Road, pick it up to reach their destination and then leave it charging in a designated spot for the next person to use it.
How much will you pay? That depends on how much you want to use the electric vehicle, rather than what distance you’ll travel. the Fares start at €3 for up to 15 minutes and go as far as €19 for 4 hours. And there’s also a discount offered for annual subscribers to MetroVelo, TAG, Itinisere or TER.
Who can use the system? Any person above 18 years old with a valid driving license and a subscription to Cite lib. There are currently 27 charging stations in Grenoble, Fontaine, Gieres, St Martin D’Heres, Seyssinet-Pariset and La Tronche, each positioned near a tram, bus or train station.
Each station is equipped with at least four spots for Toyota i-Roads (the leaning three-wheeled thingy) and COMS (a four-wheeled version for those who are afraid of leaning vehicles).
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