Today is the launch of the capital’s new pay-as-you-go car rental scheme. ‘Boris Bikes’ have proved a hit with Londoner’s, and London now has plans for rent-a-car services in order to revolutionise the capital.

DriveNow, charges drivers a one-off fee and then per minute, in order to rent a BMW or Mini to drive round the capital in. Unlike Boris Bikes, the car can be left anywhere the driver wants, as long as it is in a legal parking space within the company’s operating area.

The Head of UK DriveNow recognises ‘customer’s changing habits in London’ and believe the scheme ‘fits a new niche in the transport mix in London’. At only 39p per minute, Londoner’s can experience the city in a stylish, warm environment.

A Transport for London spokesman said that ‘keeping the city moving effectively and sustainably is a huge challenge that requires ambitious thinking and innovation’.

The scheme has already proved a huge success in Germany, whereby it has 360,000 customers.

Islington, Hackney and Haringey will be the first boroughs to trial the scheme.

Would the scheme reduce the number of cars in London due to it’s principle of car-sharing? Or would it simply add to congestion? Professor Glaister said that in order ‘to preserve the quality of life in cities we must revise our travel expectations and ministers need to set clear strategies to facilitate this’. With the idea of clambering into a warm, posh motor vehicle, would less people use Boris Bikes and therefore contribute to larger amounts of pollution in the city?

Picture: Wikipedia