Communauto expanding in Montreal, Toronto and other cities
by CM Staff
Communauto has ordered 1,300 new vehicles from manufacturers to add to the service before summer.
Left to right : Marco Viviani, vice-president at Communauto, Sophie Mauzerolle, member responsible for transportation and mobility on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, Benoît Robert, president and founder of Communauto. (CNW Group/COMMUNAUTO)
MONTREAL — Communauto, a carsharing service in Canada, is planning substantial growth in its vehicle fleet after a 30% increase in the number of members and overall usage of the service in 2021.
To meet this demand in 2022, Communauto has ordered 1,300 new vehicles from manufacturers to add to the service before summer, despite car industry supply issues which could last until 2023.
The largest increase in the fleet will be in Montreal, where 800 vehicles will be added (200 in stations and 600 for the FLEX service). In total, more than 3,000 vehicles will be available to Montrealers by the end of the summer.
“Communauto is responding to the significant growth in demand we saw in 2021 by planning a major increase to our service. This growing demand demonstrates the importance of carsharing as an urban mobility solution that is more sustainable and efficient than the personal car. It also opens the door to major challenges: first, the difficulty of the automotive industry to guarantee the number of cars ready to deliver and second, the significant delays between orders and deliveries. We experienced this in 2021 and we fear that it could also affect the supply this year, despite our efforts. One thing is certain, Communauto has the capacity and the commitment to guarantee the availability of our service and to meet the growing needs of citizens who wish to adopt carsharing, in combination with other public transit and active mobility options,” states Benoit Robert, president and founder of Communauto.
In Quebec City, there will be more than 300 cars available with the addition of approximately 45 cars, including 15 for the FLEX service (+25%).
Toronto will also be planning a significant increase to its fleet, with 250 new vehicles (+60%). Similarly, 200 vehicles will go to Halifax, Ottawa, southwestern Ontario, Paris, Edmonton and Calgary, where the supply of reservation-based station vehicles continues to grow alongside the supply of FLEX cars.
In 2022, Communauto will expand to Hamilton, Ontario, where the FLEX service will soon be available.
