During the trial, INRETS directed monitoring and appraisal work near Paris which had two objectives: The first was to test or validate the self-service electric car concept with regard to the public response and to understand its dynamics in relation to users and their travel practices. The second was to analyse the size and organisation of the resources (in terms of vehicles and staff) required in order to meet demand, the challenge facing the management and organisation of service provision being just as new and fundamental to constructing the future service as the challenge of social and commercial validation. In what follows we shall begin by considering the experimental system and management procedures implemented for the trial in order to evaluate their effectiveness, continue by presenting the knowledge gained about the operation of the system and the sizing of resources and end with an evaluation, within the limits imposed by the experimental nature of the service and the technologies employed, of the system's operating costs.
Abstract