39Vaugirard

Has anyone seen this? How does it work?

A new fleet of ‘tuk-tuk’ taxis have taken to the streets of Paris this week, offering free journeys around the French capital.

The service is set to run seven days a week, using 24 tuk-tuks and stopping at 150 points on some of the most popular fixed bus routes in the city.

The service is operated by entrepreneur Kheir Mazri, who aims to cover costs by selling advertising on the side of the vehicles and by selling a variety of pastries, tea and popcorn to passengers during their journey.

To avoid competition with Parisian taxis, tuk-tuk drivers will not accept special destination requests.

Motorbike-powered tuk-tuks are a common sight in many Asian countries. If the service is successful in Paris, there are plans to expand nationally offering the service in cities across France.

[From Free tuk-tuk taxis take to the streets of Paris - The Connexion]

53% of violent thefts in the Paris métro and public transit involve smart phones, including the ubiquitous iPhone. City officials even call it the “iPhone effect.”

This is easy to understand. My wife lost her iPhone on the Muni bus here in San Francisco. The thief scoped the phone users near the middle of the bus and as the  doors opened, he grabbed her phone and ran out the door. The doors closed and she barely knew what happened. I could see this easily happening in Paris. On the other hand, your odds aren’t so bad. If you’re standing at rush hour, you’re usually surrounded by ten other people staring at their little screens. Still, a word to the wise…

A crime wave involving the devices – has prompted Paris’ transit system to hand out flyers in four languages warning travelers about the risk. French consumers are some of the world’s most prolific users of the iPhone: France Telecom has sold more of the phones than any company other than AT&T.

[From 53% of violent Paris transit thefts tied to phones]

Related articles

• Smartphones Lure Sticky Fingers in Paris (nytimes.com)
• Parisians Told to Hold IPhones Tight After Thefts on Subways (businessweek.com)

Those French, so logical and practical, yet so infuriating to the American sensibility of freedom and waste. Ten years after the Hummer was introduced as the ultimate extension of small apartment masquerading as automobile, this seems like a sensible step, especially in cities where there are no mountains to climb or icy roads to navigate. Bulky, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) could be banned from the chic but traffic-clogged streets of Paris within 18 months following a resolution passed by the city council.

Denis Baupin, a leading Green party councilor who tabled the resolution, says the designer jeeps are “not suited to towns” and he could not understand why people drove the fashionable “off-roaders.”

“They’re polluters, they’re space-occupiers, they’re dangerous for pedestrians and other road users. They’re a caricature of a car.”

[From Paris bid to ban designer jeeps - CNN]

I would not shed one crocodile tear if San Francisco, the most French of American cities, decided to also do away with SUVs. Our Supervisors are at war, instead, on all cars with a mission to slowly eliminate all parking and give over extra lanes to bicycles. Unfortunately, their brains apparently run on only one track since they don’t ever seem to ponder the mass transit needs to replace cars in a city with many unscalable hills

I was skeptical, but this calculator is pretty dead on for a tax trip from CDG to our apartment – about 55E. They even ask what time you’ll be traveling so they can factor in waiting in traffic time.

[From Taxi fare in Paris from Aeroport de Paris Orly France to hote mercure tour eiffel - worldtaximeter]

Worth a look so you can prepare your Euros and your shocked face ahead of time.

It works for other major cities as well.