Montreal City Weblog

Kate 14:09 on 2024-04-15 Permalink Reply  

• Ian 14:29 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  And Dorval… but no further west?
  It’s too bad, I’m sure many West Island students would be happy to not need to own a car. I wonder if there will be communauto by the airport? That would be pretty great for travellers.

• DeWolf 17:39 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  I think the airport would be hard to manage. I often used Car2Go to get to the airport, but it required a lot of extra time, because you needed to drop the car at one of those private parking lots and take a shuttle to the terminal. And I never used it on arrival because it was rare for there to be any cars available in the lot, the turnover was pretty intense. It was still nice to have as an option, though.

• DeWolf 17:41 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  In related news there’s a private carsharing company called Bolt that is looking to expand to Montreal. Some competition to Communauto would be nice. I’m a committed user but back in the days of Car2Go, I was happy to have both available.

• John B 18:26 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  I’d love to see Communauto get some competition. The state of their vehicles is sometimes pretty rough, and availability is a problem.

• Ephraim 19:41 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  What, no discussion about sex in a Communauto?

• Kevin 20:41 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  They hinted that the next expansion step will be near REM stations.

• Ian 21:57 on 2024-04-15 Permalink

  Bolt is all over in Berlin, they also do electric scooters and bikes. I found their car service much better than Uber – and less expensive.

• Kate 08:43 on 2024-04-16 Permalink

  Ephraim, I was refraining from making reddit-based references here…

• Ephraim 09:09 on 2024-04-16 Permalink

  @Kate – Yeah, but it’s been like a week full of those jokes. 😀

• Nicholas 14:46 on 2024-04-16 Permalink

  Communauto is not going to expand Flex to any borough or city where they can’t park on the street. Most of the independent cities have very strict parking rules, even when they have tons of street parking, because everyone thinks the street in front of their house is theirs. So all you’ll see is classic round trip cars in off-street spots until a city gets on board.

• Kate 14:55 on 2024-04-16 Permalink

  I was also wondering whether the commercial car rental branches at the airport might kick at having car sharing options close by. It might even be written in their contracts.

• DeWolf 17:44 on 2024-04-16 Permalink

  I’d be surprised if that’s a part of it because the way Communauto operates, it isn’t the same market as airport car rentals. When you sign up, you need to submit your drivers licence and driving record for approval, pay the membership fee and insurance. That’s true even for Communauto members in other cities like Halifax or Calgary, who need to sign up for the Quebec version before they visit because each province is run separately.

  Car2Go was arguably more competition to the car rental agencies because it was a global company and anyone who signed up for it could use it anywhere in the world. And of course Car2Go had airport service while Communauto never did.

• Ian 07:45 on 2024-04-17 Permalink

  Bolt would be a good fit in the “use it anywhere” regard, too, especially as it’s not just cars.

• Kate 12:46 on 2024-04-17 Permalink

  Oh true. I forgot Communauto doesn’t have a one-trip option the way Bixi does.

• Ian 14:44 on 2024-04-17 Permalink

  It does, but only the “flex” cars which can’t be reserved in advance.

• MarcG 15:26 on 2024-04-17 Permalink

  I thought the same thing at first but then I realized Kate probably meant buying a trip without a membership.