A certain dissatisfaction is swelling with regard to Communauto. For several months, users have reported having more difficulty than before in reserving cars. Car-sharing service use has skyrocketed during the pandemic, and the company hopes purchasing an additional 500 to 700 cars for next year will help correct the situation.
“For six months, it’s really intense, it’s worse,” says Geneviève Bujold. The Rosemont resident has been using Communauto since last year, after getting rid of her car that was “good for the scrap “. “Before, I had to be a little patient to find a car. But there, I am incapable all day. I bought the pass for $ 80 a month, and it’s getting frustrating, ”she says. She still sees benefits, but is nearing breaking point.
The weekends are particularly trying for some, and comments abound on social media. Depending on what The duty noted that some people reserve a car on Saturdays and Sundays a month in advance, even if it means canceling at the last minute.
The weekends have always been more difficult, reports Catherine Dion, a member of Communauto for twenty years. However, she notices that it has been getting worse for some time. “But in the morning, to take my son to school, I never have any problems,” she says.
Users from Longueuil and Quebec with whom The duty discussed also echo this situation. Everyone agrees that they still appreciate the service, but that they feel the pressure.
A “bad patch”
“We are short of cars,” admits Marco Viviani, vice-president, strategic development at Communauto. We added more than 300 cars this year in Montreal, but that was not enough for the type of use that is being done and the growth that we have had. “
When ordering cars, in the context of a pandemic, it was difficult for the company to have a clear idea of what the situation would be like in the summer of 2021. “We thought we would have started traveling again and that there would be some return to normal, which did not materialize, ”he said.
Many Quebeckers did not leave the country during their vacation and many of them used Communauto to leave the city and visit the province.
The company is also affected by the shortage of new vehicles and has to deal with much longer than normal delivery times, not to mention unforeseen delays. “When there are six-month delays, it’s hard to make up for it,” explains Marco Viviani. Planning well in advance in a situation of change is difficult. There were also delays in delivery this summer.
A hundred vehicles must nevertheless be added by Christmas in Montreal. The company also plans to order between 500 and 700 vehicles across Quebec for next year. “In this way, we think we can absorb the growth of last year, the deficit of this year and the growth of next year,” he says, while again insisting that the “forecasts are difficult to do ”.
“We don’t know if we’ll all still be in Quebec next summer. What we are trying to do is grow enough to guarantee availability. But not too much, because that would lead to a deficit, which we should compensate by increasing tariffs, he said. It’s a bad patch, we hope it will be better next year. “
Greater use
Communauto has faced growing popularity in recent years, with more users than normal who have registered. But it is above all the use of vehicles that has skyrocketed. “It’s mostly from June to September. We had an increase of around 40% in hours of use per vehicle in 2020 and 2021 ”, reports Marco Viviani.
People’s behavior and transportation habits have changed with confinement and telecommuting. “We are in a period when, in mobility, it is too difficult to establish trends. People have changed their mobility habits a lot, over a long period of time, ”says Jean-Philippe Meloche, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal.
The fear of taking public transit has had a definite impact. Pierre Barrieau, lecturer at the University of Montreal and specialist in transportation planning, explains that people use Communauto cars for longer, which makes them less available.
“As people have more flexible hours, they allow themselves additional outings,” he says. There is also a sociological aspect: as people suffer from confinement, there is a desire to get out of the house to, for example, go see the autumn leaves in the Laurentians. There are more kilometers and hours, so that puts pressure on Communauto. »As rentals are longer, a car will be booked less in a day or a week.
There is also an issue of “perception, thinks Marco Viviani. We manage to have a car, but it takes a little patience. The challenge is to say how long it will take for a car to be available near my home. In 2019, we were around 10 minutes of waiting. Now it’s longer, it’s about 20 minutes ”.
The company would therefore like to add an alert on the application to notify subscribers when a car becomes available. It is also planned to integrate, in 2023, a system on which people could make their personal cars available, much like the Turo platform.
As people suffer from confinement, there is a desire to get out of the house to, for example, see the fall leaves in the Laurentians. There are more kilometers and hours, so that puts pressure on Communauto.
A crumbling respect?
The Communauto company, which was founded in 1994, is experiencing good growth. The car-sharing service now exceeds 100,000 subscribers, and 7% of households use it in Montreal.
While some don’t really see any changes, others wonder if the increase in the number of users comes with a loss of community and respect.
“People do not know that they have to put gasoline in the car, the quality of subscribers has perhaps fallen, they are less informed, estimates Catherine Dion. I think people are consuming the car rather than understanding that they are using a shared service, with a responsibility. “
Simon Turgeon, a user from Longueuil, notices that the cars are dirtier and that the gas tank is often less than a quarter full. “I remain satisfied and still use it a lot. But we have to improve respect between users, ”he thinks.
For its part, Communauto believes that the distribution of the service leads to less “careful” use, but does not believe that the situation is very different from the one before. “It’s difficult to quantify,” emphasizes Marco Viviani. Intuitively I would tell you that there has been a change with the introduction of the FLEX service, which people use for a shorter period of time because they can be in a rush. He adds that it is now possible to make reports through the app.