Car-sharing services: six pilot areas in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes provide their feedback

janvier 2024

Réseau pour la transition énergétique (CLER)

À télécharger : synthese-services-covoiturage-smt-aml-covoiturage-decembre-2024-dynamique.pdf (5,9 Mio)

A topical issue

In a context of rising fuel prices making mobility an increasingly important expense for households, encouraging shared mobility such as carpooling is becoming a major economic and social issue.

It is a national priority that is reflected, for example, in the establishment of low-emission mobility zones (ZFE-m) in 32 conurbations by 2025, and the launch of the National Daily Car-Sharing Plan, which aims to triple the number of car-sharing trips by 2027, reaching the target of 3 million trips.

While this mode of transport has established itself as an alternative to the private car for long-distance travel, there is significant room for improvement in terms of short-distance carpooling.

Webinars to learn from experiments in the regions

• Highlight the different solutions available to local authorities, and their diversity in terms of objectives, budget, etc.;

• Encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience between local authorities in response to the renewed interest in carpooling and the expectations of local authorities and users;

• Addressing a specific type of service during each webinar, seeking to provide a concrete understanding of how it works, the conditions for its success, its different variations and to show what has already been achieved in other areas of the region.

The three meetings thus addressed organised hitchhiking (1 June 2023), advance matchmaking platforms with incentives (13 July 2023) and high-level service lines (5 December 2023).

Webinar 1: Organised hitchhiking

Easy to implement, organised hitchhiking is used in rural areas, but also as a feeder service to central locations or multimodal transport hubs. It is a free mobility solution that does not require passengers to book in advance.

The introduction of a structured service by the local authority makes hitchhiking safer and more efficient by creating signposted stops and an identifiable community of users.

Pays Jeune Loire

The Pays Jeune Loire region rolled out the Mobi’Pouce hitchhiking scheme in September 2019. Nearly 160 stops have been created in the area to serve the 44 municipalities in the Yssingeaux district.

‘Each municipality has at least one stop, regardless of its size. We consider that each of the communes can potentially have users even if it is very rural and remote’, explains Maud Damon-Dazy, Mobility Project Manager at PETR Jeune-Loire. “The idea is to restore confidence and generally encourage carpooling. There is nothing restrictive, we are just there to provide key elements to facilitate carpooling”.

Grand Bourg Agglomération

Grand Bourg Agglomération offers the Rubis’Covoit’Ligne service, which consists of 2 carpooling lines, with 4 stops per line, between Montrevel-en-Bresse, Bourg-en-Bresse and Ceyzériat.

‘The elected representatives wanted to try out something in terms of carpooling that would be visible throughout the area, with visible stopping points that are energy efficient and lightweight if they need to be moved,’ explains Léa Bazin, Mobility Project Manager at Grand Bourg Agglo.

Webinar 2: Advance booking platforms with incentives

With the development of private platforms and the introduction of a government subsidy to double the incentives paid to travellers by local authorities, services that connect people in advance with incentives are a key focus.

This service uses a digital tool (application and/or website) to connect drivers and passengers for pre-planned journeys. It is particularly suitable for regular short-distance daily journeys.

Local authorities have a role to play in facilitating daily carpooling in their area. The introduction of a financial incentive means reduced or even zero cost for passengers and compensation for the driver who offers seats in their vehicle.

The second webinar in the series provided an opportunity to present two examples of public-private partnership platforms.

Firstly, the EnCovoit Grand Lyon service operated by Karos for the Métropole de Lyon. ‘The financial incentive is only paid for journeys that meet the criteria, i.e. between 5 and 30 km with at least one end point in the metropolis,’ explains Marie Cannonge, Project Manager for Shared Motor Vehicle Services at the Métropole de Lyon, ’ A financial incentive policy is a pricing grid to be defined by rewarding or not rewarding certain types of journeys or users, as desired.’

With regard to the Klaxit high-quality car-sharing service operated by Klaxit and managed by Vienne Condrieu Agglomération, Christelle Chevrier, Director of Transport and Travel for Vienne Condrieu Agglomération, says: ‘After a year of implementation, we have far exceeded the objectives we set ourselves, it is a real success in the area. We can say that it is a product that really completes the transport offer that we propose.’

Webinar 3: High-service carpooling lines

In order to address the challenge of increasing carpooling, high-level service lines are schemes aimed at reducing single-occupancy car use by targeting commuting trips. These are lines with identifiable fixed stops, positioned on structuring axes with a high flow in order to connect employee residential areas to activity zones.

Run by local authorities via a private operator, they operate spontaneously without reservation: the journey request is made via a connected terminal, an application or by SMS. This service, accompanied by a financial incentive, requires the provision of a journey guarantee over defined opening hours in order to allay the fear of not reaching one’s destination.

The third webinar in the series gives the floor to two local authorities on the implementation of their service:

• The Communauté de communes de la Plaine de l’Ain with Covoit’ici PIPA

• The Syndicat mixte des mobilités de l’aire grenobloise (SMMAG) with M Covoit’ Lignes+.

Mathilde Remuaux, Mobility Project Manager at the Communauté de communes de la Plaine de l’Ain, emphasises the real challenge of positioning the stops when designing the service: ‘There is a balance to be found between being on a major flow of drivers and being accessible to passengers, and these two parameters are sometimes difficult to combine.’

Emilie Faghel, Mobility Project Manager at SMMAG, explains the importance of communication for the success of the project: ’ Fear is a real barrier to carpooling’, which is one of the reasons why, for this service, ’a facilitator is dedicated 100% to the territory, and has the task of explaining the service, making it understood, visiting companies, and forging a link with a community of users.’

SMT AML summary dossier on carpooling services

The SMT AML has published a detailed analysis of carpooling services, following the series of webinars conducted with AURA-EE. It is a practical guide for local authorities and mobility stakeholders to understand, develop and facilitate carpooling solutions adapted to the regions (PDF document attached to this sheet).

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