Communauto finds parking downtown
Borough to hand over 8 on-street spots

Michelle Lalonde


If you work downtown, hate the commute but need your car for work, here’s a solution.

Montreal’s car-sharing service, Communauto, will be offering eight new points of service downtown as of next month to individual of corporate members.

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The longest surviving car-sharing service in North America, Communauto has been growing in leaps and bounds across Montreal Island, Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Gatineau since it was founded in 1994.

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But the big limit on growth has always been a lack of available, convenient parking spots in districts where members need access to cars.

Finding spaces in downtown cores has been a particular challenge, said Benoît Robert, Communauto president.

But yesterday, Benoit Labonté, mayor of  the downtown borough Ville-Marie, said the borough will hand over eight prime, on-street parking spaces at four downtown locations for the exclusive use of Communauto members, and pledged to add more in the near future.

The goal is to reduce the number of cars downtown, he said.

Four other downtown locations where members can pick up or drop off Communauto cars are being offered by downtown businesses or organizations: The Caisse de dépot et de placement du Québec, Gestiparc, Voyagez Futé and Equiterre.

Robert noted the downtown service points are expected to appeal particularly to corporate clients who wish to avoid the expense and headache of managing a fleet of cars for employee use, although regular Communauto members will also have access to the downtown cars.

© The Gazette 2007