From left to right: Jonathan Tabarah, Vice President of the Executive Committee, Head of Finance, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Mobility, City of Longueuil , Sophie Mauzerolle, Executive Committee Member for Transportation and Mobility, City of Montreal, Benoît Robert, President and Founder, Communauto, Marco Viviani, Vice-President, Strategic Development, Communauto
Dealers keeping tabs on carsharing developments will be interested to note that Communauto, the City of Montreal, and the City of Longueuil have announced a major expansion for its service this year, the result of growing demand.
In a news release, Communauto Québec highlighted aspects of the expansion, including the addition of 700 vehicles across the Montreal region, the continued development of FLEX and Return FLEX offers, and the availability of the FLEX service in Longueuil within the coming weeks.
“Preliminary results from a survey conducted in early April confirm users’ appreciation of the service: 89 per cent would recommend Communauto to others,” the company said in its update. The survey included 4,300 users and revealed that “82 per cent of Communauto users’ households do not own a car.”
Survey results also point to 69 per cent of all users agreeing that Communauto was the key factor in deciding to sell (23 per cent) or forgo buying a vehicle (46 per cent). The survey also found that 30 per cent of users in Montreal sold their only vehicle when they joined the service, while 42 per cent would only buy a car if Communauto were no longer available.
“Among those who joined within the last 12 months, users reported reducing their car use by an average of 41 per cent — a figure close to the 34 per cent reduction reported by all users in the previous 2023 survey,” the company said.
Communauto will continue its Return FLEX project in 2025 in partnership with the City of Montreal. It will add 70 new zones across eight boroughs. And 15 new station zones will be added across the city in 2025. In Montreal, the FLEX service area will expand to include Rivière-des-Prairies, Pointe-aux-Trembles, LaSalle (Boulevard Newman), Saint-Laurent (Chameran), and Lachine — among others.
In Longueuil, the city approved an expansion of the station-based service for 17 new spaces across 10 parking lots. The expansion brings Longueuil’s station-based service to 67 Communauto vehicles across 34 stations.
“The service will cover an area bounded by Saint-Charles and du Coteau-Rouge streets, between Saint-Jacques and Joliette. This zone will be accessible to FLEX vehicles from both Montreal and Longueuil,” said the company in its update.
