Communauto inaugurated on Le Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, the first 100% electric one-way carsharing service in Canada. As of today, some twenty vehicles will be available to citizens for trips from a point A to a point B, by simply passing an OPUS card previously registered in the Auto-mobile system.
The aim of the pilot project is to evaluate the benefits and impacts of such a service.
“The public consultation held on June 11th, about one-way carsharing, confirms the need to better document the effects this service will have on citizen’s mobility and on other transportation services, while taking into account Montreal realities. We believe such a system should be positioned as to complement the existing service offer for short trips rather than placing it in competition with other sustainable transportation actors such as taxis, the STM, BIXI and carsharing with reservation,” said Benoît Robert, CEO of Communauto.
“Le Plateau-Mont-Royal is delighted Communauto has chosen the borough for its pilot project. We have no doubt that this new service will be enthusiastically received by our residents, already exemplary in their transportation choices, at an unparalleled degree in the country. The use of a car is essential at times and Auto-mobile, in addition to traditional carsharing, offers maximum benefits with minimal disruptions for its users and for the society. For its part, the borough has commissioned a universal parking permit to minimize the constraints relative to parking the cars near the user’s destination,” added Luc Ferrandez, mayor of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.
“We want to know the effects of such a project on Montrealers’ travel habits. The environmental gains could be very significant on our greenhouse gas effects and air contaminants, if this service replaces gas-powered vehicle trips. As well as the use of urban space, if users get rid of their second car,” says Daniel Bouchard, head of campaigns at the Conseil régional de l’environnement of Montreal.
Research is supported by various partners including researchers of the Mobilité Chair who will conduct surveys with the users and Taxi Diamond, the biggest provider of service for taxi allocation that will provide its point of view and data relative to taxi use. The Conseil régional de l’environnement also supports Communauto in this process. The embedded technology and software are provided by VU LOG CarSharing, a French SME.