With a growing number of people in San Francisco choosing not to own a car, German carmaking company BMW has decided to branch out into car-sharing services with 70 cars spread around the city, first in 14 locations, with a further 100 being added gradually.
“This is not an A-to-A service — it is A-to-B,” says Richard Steinberg, chief leader of the DriveNow scheme (方案), pointing out that members can pick up a car downtown for the half-hour drive to the airport for only $ 12, compared with about $ 40 -50 for a taxi.
Whether that is possible in real life depends on traffic, of course. A midmorning drive from Union Square down Highway 101 to the airport takes just 22 minutes; however, driving back during the rush hour takes twice as long.
Most of the cars that are stuck in San Francisco’s traffic jams are giving off all sorts of harmful gas, but not DriveNow’s BMW ActiveE cars.
“All the cars in San Francisco are electric,” Mr. Steinberg says.
In San Francisco, handing back (交还) the car to DriveNow is easy — just pick one of its drop-off points, park and walk away. There are no forms to fill in, or no time-consuming (耗费时间的) rules.
Several other carmakers and other players within the motor industry are experimenting with similar schemes, for example Daimler’s car2go scheme, which is operated in many cities around the world.
“We picture a future where car-sharing members outnumber car owners in big cities around the world,” says car2go spokesman Andreas Leo.
Franck Leveque, from company Frost & Sullivan, agrees.
“Car sharing is growing at a pace we have not seen before,” he says. “By 2020 we believe there will be 15 million members of car-sharing schemes in Europe alone, with 140,000 vehicles in operation.”
5. What does the underlined part “branch out into” probably mean?
A.Start offering. | B.Try improving. |
C.Make use of. | D.Take control of. |
6. The DriveNow scheme ________.
A.works better in rush-hour traffic |
B.makes city driving less dangerous |
C.encourages people to buy a cheap car |
D.allows drivers to pay money to use a car |
7. What’s special about BMW ActiveE cars?
A.They are time-saving. |
B.They don’t get stuck in heavy traffic. |
C.They are environmentally friendly. |
D.They are money-saving. |
8. What does Franck think of the future of car sharing?
A.Worrying. | B.Hopeful. |
C.Uncertain. | D.Disappointing. |