Communauto and its partners
receive the AQTR's
2007 Collective Transport Award



MONTRÉAL, APRIL 3rd, 2007 – Communauto was presented today with the Quebec Road and Transport Association’s (AQTR) 2007 Collective Transport award. Communauto was awarded this distinction in recognition of its « DUO auto + bus » initiative, which allowed Quebec to integrate automobiles to public transport offers through the use of car sharing for the first time.

Awarded as part of the AQTR’s 42nd annual conference in the presence of over 700 attendees by the Federal Minister of Transportation, the Hon. Lawrence Cannon, this prize underlines the excellence of initiatives and efforts made to promote and enhance collective transport.

Aside from Communauto, the contributors to the AUTO + BUS project are the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC), the Société de transport de Lévis, the Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO), the Société de transport de Laval (STL), the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT), the Association canadienne de transport urbain (ACTU) and Tecsult.

"We are very honoured to have received this prize." declared Mr. Robert, CEO of Communauto." In the past, the automobile and public transport were generally viewed as antagonists. With this initiative, we have been able to demonstrate that it is possible to integrate the automobile and public transport offers and thereby propose to the population a more attractive alternative to owning a vehicle. In my opinion, no one can cast doubts on the complementary aspects of car-sharing and public transport any longer. In only a few months, over 500 people took advantage of the « DUO auto + bus » offer, an innovative program combining access to automobiles with annual public transport membership offers. According to a market evaluation undertaken by the engineering firm Tecsult, these offers could be attractive to over 20,000 people in the future."

It is worth noting that a first assessment of the AUTO + BUS project carried out by Tecsult was made public last February. Among the highlights of this study, it was revealed that car-sharing constituted an excellent trigger to stimulate the sale of public transport memberships. In fact, following the launch of the combined mobility offer, the sale of monthly passes increased by 31% among members of Communauto in Quebec City.

Communauto has every reason to celebrate this distinctive honour, especially given the fact that this is the second award presented to Communauto by the AQTR. Indeed, the Quebec organization also won the « environment » award in 1998 for the merits of its service.

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