Communauto's Montreal service expands to Lachine and RDP with over 1,100 new cars
The Communauto car-sharing service in Montreal is expanding, adding more than 1,100 cars to its fleet and making some of them available neighbourhoods well outside the downtown core, including Lachine, Rivière-des-Prairies and Bois-Franc.
About 900 of those new vehicles will be available through Communauto's fixed station model, which requires users to return the vehicle to the same location where they picked it up. About 200 cars will be included in the Flex model. Those cars can be dropped off anywhere within the Communauto's city territory.
Communauto plans to replace 400 cars in its fleet this year to make the service more reliable. (Kwabena Oduro/CBC)
During a news conference on Monday in Lachine, which was attended by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, borough mayor Maja Vodanovic and other municipal officials, the company announced a plan to roll out fixed stations to other areas such as Dorval, Cartierville and Montréal-Nord.
Last year, the service added 900 vehicles to its fleet. This year's additions bring the company's Montreal total to about 4,800.
"You see the growth. The Montreal car-sharing market is far from being saturated," said Benoît Robert, the president and founder of Communauto.
"I'm looking forward to the day we talk about 10,000 or even 20,000 cars."
Lachine mayor Maja Vodanovic, seen here in a photo taken in November 2019, said adding Communauto vehicles will help diversify transit options in her borough. (Jay Turnbull/CBC)
The company also said it plans to beef up its "station zone" service. This service is like a middle ground between Flex and fixed stations, allowing users to pick up and drop off vehicles within a zone small enough to cross on foot. Communauto says 500 vehicles will be set aside for station zones spread across 10 Montreal boroughs.
About 85 of the new vehicles will be electric and 70 will be minivans, and Communauto said about 400 of the cars in its current fleet will be replaced with newer ones.
Vodanovic, the mayor of Lachine, said Monday's announcement represents another significant improvement in terms of transit options for people in her borough. She pointed to the reserved bus lane on Provost Street, the 496 bus line that connects the borough to downtown and the availability of Bixi stations as examples.
Questions about availability
During the news conference, Communauto's CEO was asked about users being unable to find a car on the app, even as the fleet has grown.
Robert acknowledged that it can be difficult to find a vehicle during rush hour or on weekends.
He said users should have more realistic expectations of what Communauto can offer and understand that the car-sharing service is complementary to other transit options on the island of Montreal.
"People who think they can always use a [Communauto] vehicle to get around without ever considering the possibility of using public transit or taxi, there's a good chance they'll be disappointed," he said.
"As soon as people see car sharing as one of many options, then that fixes a lot of things."
He said walking a few hundred metres or riding a Bixi to get to a vehicle is part of the car-sharing reality in Montreal.
