Targeted to be launched in October 2003 to coincide with the Telecom exhibition, Geneva is planning to have a network of self-service light electric vehicles. The models are still to be selected but versions with a multi-passenger and/or load-carrying capability are the most likely. Initially, 60 vehicles will be parked at strategic locations and will be picked up and left there.

The user will have a chip card allowing access to the vehicle. Each vehicle’s position will be monitored from a central location and advice for routing transmitted directly to the driver to avoid any bottlenecks using a GPS system.

The Paris transport authority (RATP) is so enthused by the Geneva trial that it will be participating in the scheme’s start-up costs. The French RATP representative said Geneva could serve as a valuable model for cities throughout Europe. Geneva will be the first city of importance to try the new environmentally-friendly solution to ‘individual public’ mobility.

Geneva, city of firsts and innovation

Geneva has a list of innovative firsts to its credit. It is often the first Swiss city to be selected to try out the innovative. Why Geneva? Well, perhaps part of the answer may lie in a phrase coined in advertisements by Geneva’s leading French-language daily, the Tribune de Genève: ‘Genevans are like that’. The city has a well-earned reputation among Swiss for innovation, acceptance of the new, doing things ‘differently’.

Perhaps this is partly a result of Geneva’s cosmopolitanism and being open to international influences long before its neighbours. The presence of a large non-Genevan resident population (33%) has a marked effect on the city’s nature. The presence in the city of many leading-edge foreign multinationals, major R&D facilities in various domains, a world-class infrastructure and its compact size all contribute to making the city an ideal location for developing innovative solutions.

Visit

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Ideal business location at the heart of Europe: Link

E-business - Cultural awareness still counts – Geneva’s triple advantage: Link