Communauto: Opening of Terminal Areas to combat space shortages

90 station areas, 500 square metres, will be spread across ten boroughs of Montreal. It will remain in place until at least November 2023.

They would allow car-sharing users to park vehicles on a larger perimeter rather than a specific location. A few minutes before the start of the reservation, the user will receive the location of the reserved car on his mobile application.

We feel unprecedented enthusiasm on the part of Montrealers for this commuting optionstressed the person in charge of transportation and mobility on the Montreal City Executive Committee, Sophie Mauzerolle. It gives citizens more spacesummed up.

Facilitate the addition of vehicles in the network

Last June, the company saw a 30% jump in its subscribers and struggled to meet demand during peak hours and on weekends. In November, Communauto decried the fact that administrative delays in approving new parking spaces were slowing service.

The problem is that you have to find them [et] Negotiating each contract individually, which is complicatedThe company’s vice president, Marco Viviani, explained in a microphone interview Every morning At ICI Premiere on Friday.

news station areas Allowing vehicles to park in larger areas and pre-booking or last-minute, service-style drape. This service allows you to book the car automatically and park it anywhere.

FLEX is very useful when you can’t book or when you have a last minute flight, but if you like to plan ahead it gets complicatedMr. Viviani notes.

Communauto vehicles have a universal decal that allows vehicles to park almost anywhere, an essential component of the shutter drape. The idea of ​​using these AV vignettes at the station So I germinated.

This modus operandi does not require any specific signage on the sidewalk or that the city does not have a monopoly on parking spaces.

It is very flexibleCommunauto President and Founder Robert Benot, in particular, emphasized the site station areas And the number of vehicles in each of these areas.

Communauto President and Founder, Benoît Robert. (file photo)

Photo: Radio-Canada/Ivano Demers

” It allows us to bring supply closer to demand, which we haven’t been able to achieve until this year. »

Mr. Benoit stresses that adding cars to the streets will not contribute to a scarcity of parking. According to a survey of subscribers in February 2023, 83% do not own a car and about 78% say they have either sold their car or given up on buying it.

885 additional vehicles

The company plans to add 885 new vehicles to its fleet, including 710, by the end of summer. Of the lottery, about 350 will go to news station areas660 will be in stationary station and 50 in position drape.

At the end of the summer season, Communauto’s fleet will number 3,500 vehicles.

The head of the organization revealed on Friday that he would have liked to add up to 1,150. Since mid-March, about two dozen vehicles have been put into operation, and about 150 more in the coming weeks.

Seven new models have been added: Nissan Sentra, Nissan Kicks, Kia Forte5, Kia Sportage, Chevrolet Bolt EV, Kia Sorento and Kia Carnival. The latter two models can carry at least seven people.

Cars that were expected to ease traffic last year have been flooding due to disruptions in supply chains. Of the 800 vehicles ordered before summer 2022, 550 have been delivered.

In recent years, the car fleet has increased more rapidly than the general population in MontrealSophie Mauzerolle noted. Vehicles are getting bigger, heavier, and more numerous, and this leads to all kinds of safety issues on our lands.

A popular service in the central neighbourhoods

the station areaswhich was the subject of a pilot project in the Plateau-Mont-Royal region this winter, will be expanded first to the neighborhoods of Rosemont-La Petite-Patry and Mercier-Hochelga-Maisonneuve.

Ville-Marie, Sud Ouest, Côte de Neige, Notre-Dame-de-Grasse, Villeray, Saint-Michel, Parc-Extension, Verdun, Ahontsic-Carterville and Outremont will be added later.

Roughly 12% of Montreal households use Communauto, but the service’s popularity is concentrated in the central boroughs.

For example, a third of Plateau-Mont-Royal households share it, compared to just 3% of Ville Saint-Laurent’s population.

Two factors explain this observation, according to Marco Viviani: a better public transport offer in the central sectors and easier access to local services.

Marco Viviani, Vice President of Communauto (file photo)

Photo: Radio Canada

In addition, the Commonwealth announced on Friday that it has expanded the territory drape To the town of Lachine and to Cégep Marie-Victorin, in the Montreal Nord district.

Communauto offers vehicles at the station which has had reserved parking spaces since 1994 and has a fleet of several thousand vehicles in Montreal, Quebec, Gatineau and Sherbrooke, as well as in 11 cities elsewhere in Canada and Paris.

With information from Maud Kocchi