“We are proud of this collaboration with Communauto, which is directly in line with the Agency’s actions and mandates,” said Mr. Laurent Chevrot, Managing Director of the Agence de mobilité durable. “The City’s vision and openness to making the required regulatory changes, as well as the implementation of this pilot project, should help stimulate car-sharing and improve the use of public space, while providing greater flexibility and access to the downtown core. In the current context in particular, we are convinced that multiplying these types of initiatives will encourage car-sharing users to travel downtown more often, in turn promoting both better rotation in parking spaces and additional support for economic recovery efforts.”

A self-service vehicle is used in Montreal up to 13 times a day by different users. FLEX vehicles ending their run in one of the authorized downtown spaces (spaces for 403/405 stickers that are already reserved for car-sharing) remain immobilized less than 2 hours before the next use.

“Our goal is to help optimize the use of available downtown parking space while making it even more user-friendly to use a service that allows you to move more people than a private car. This offer adds to the services already available such as public transport, taxis, and bike-sharing for trips for which the use of a car is still necessary. We will be charged the space used at the full rate but will be charged back to our users on the basis of an average cost that can be adjusted as needed. This is by no means a measure to subsidize car use to get downtown,” said Mr. Benoît Robert, President and Founder of Communauto.

According to studies conducted in various American cities, a self-service vehicle, without reservation, replaces between 7 and 11 private vehicles, while a car-sharing vehicle with reservation replaces 10 private cars in Montréal.

About the Agence de mobilité durable

A paramunicipal organization, the Agence de mobilité durable’s mission is to ensure the management, regulatory enforcement, and innovative development of paid on-street and off-street parking throughout the city of Montreal. Through its leadership, it will contribute to improving customer experience, street sharing and public domain occupation by supporting actions that promote urban mobility.