Carpooling services in sparsely populated areas

October 2023

Centre d’études et d’expertise sur les risques, l’environnement, la mobilité et l’aménagement (CEREMA)

‘Car-pooling is defined as the joint use of a motorised land vehicle by a driver and one or more passengers, carried out without consideration, except for the sharing of expenses, in the context of a journey made by the driver on his own account. For this purpose, they may be put in contact with each other for consideration’. The organisation of car-sharing is fundamentally based on bringing together a driver and one or more passengers to form a crew for all or part of the journey initially planned by the driver. Cerema is analysing this use of the car in sparsely populated areas.

To download : 4_covoiturage_web.pdf (1.7 MiB)

1 OPERATION AND ORGANISATION OF CARPOOLING SERVICES

1.1 Operation of carpooling services

In order to implement an optimal car sharing service, it is important to work on several interdependent aspects:

The choices to be made regarding these different areas of work will then depend on :

1.2 Role of the local authority

A mobility organising authority (AOM) can contribute to the development of car sharing. However, car sharing is by definition a private mode of transport, and unlike a public transport service, the AOM does not directly define the nature of the service (timetables, frequency of journeys), as this depends on the availability of drivers. An AOM authority can organise car-pooling (a car-pooling platform), subsidise the journeys made, publicise car-pooling schemes in the area, and make it easier for car-poolers to travel and park (setting up reserved lanes or spaces, car-pooling areas, etc.) in conjunction with the authorities responsible for roads. To encourage intermodality between car sharing and other mobility services, car sharing stops or areas can be integrated into a mobility area (see Mobility toolkit for sparsely populated areas: ‘Mobility areas in sparsely populated areas’).

The AOM can operate carpooling services on its own, or call on a private service provider under an agreement. In this respect, where a contract already exists with a public transport operator, it can be extended to include car sharing (e.g. subsidised car sharing in Nantes, deployment of car sharing routes in Rennes).

2 ORDER OF MAGNITUDE OF COSTS

The implementation of a carpooling service varies greatly depending on the AOM’s ambitions, the type of service chosen and the areas targeted (population, topography, density and urban form, etc.). To make things easier to understand, the costs to the local authority can be broken down according to the three aspects of a car sharing system described above:

The orders of magnitude given below have been established on the basis of data taken from various bibliographical documents or through interviews with local players. It should also be borne in mind that operators are gradually perfecting their techniques, which means that their costs can change fairly quickly. Furthermore, as contracts between local authorities and operators are competitive, the prices charged can vary considerably. The information provided below corresponds to the investment and operating costs of a car sharing service for a local authority.

2.1 Cost of the matching service

The cost of the matching service varies according to several criteria:

For example: - €2 for journeys of less than 20 km per passenger carried; - €2 + an additional €0.10/km for journeys of between 20 and 40 km per passenger carried; - €4 (maximum) for journeys of more than 40 km per passenger carried.

2.2 Cost of promotion and communication

Generally speaking, the prices observed for a public event with people on site are between €500 and €1,000 per presenter and per day. The number of facilitators required depends on the number of people targeted, but as a general rule you should expect to need two per day.

The cost of training local coordinators is likely to be in the region of €1,000 per day. The price of a communication kit (creation + distribution) aimed at employers depends on the number of people targeted and can vary from less than €300 to more than €4,000. The kit is sent by the local authority to employers who have agreed to get involved. It contains some or all of the following elements: a leaflet explaining the benefits of car-sharing, a standard e-mail and/or letter to be sent to each employee/agent, posters and flyers, roadside banners and the necessary equipment.

Experiments, particularly in the Arc Jurassien region, show that the average cost of promoting the service to new carpoolers is around €300 to €400. The cost of maintaining a carpooler in the scheme is €20 per year.

2.3 Infrastructure costs

The cost of setting up ‘car-pooling lines’ breaks down into :

The cost of upgrading roads is borne by the local authority’s roads department (municipalities, inter-municipalities, départements) or by the State on trunk roads. They may receive technical or financial support from the AOM. Variable message signs or fixed signs can be used. The price of a stop will therefore essentially depend on the type of sign (variable message or not) and the number of signs upstream of the car sharing point. Some stops (excluding improvements) can cost very little, while others can cost as much as €10,000 or €20,000. It is therefore very difficult to give an order of magnitude for the overall costs of a service in an area, as they depend on many factors, and in particular on the level of ambition of the AOM and the characteristics of the service.

Although the implementation of a car-sharing service is very inexpensive, particularly compared with regular transport services, a sufficient budget is still required. This can amount to several tens of thousands of euros per year when digital applications, communication and subsidised journeys are included. This cost should be compared with that of alternative services and the level of service provided to the population.

2.4 Use of car sharing services

The Carpool Proof Register (CPR), which will be introduced in 2019, provides figures on the use of services in a given area. This data only includes journeys made by operators who have signed an agreement with a local authority that is a partner of the Carpooling Proof Register, and therefore does not measure informal carpooling. For more information on the proof-of-carpooling register (state start-up): https: //covoiturage.beta.gouv.fr/

Use of the services varies primarily according to the population and frequency of use of the conurbations and/or employment areas concerned, demonstrating the need for a minimum ‘critical mass’ of drivers/passengers making the same journeys.

2 53,555 inhabitants in 2019 according to Insee For example, an average of 165 carpooling journeys per month are organised via the Karos application in the Flers Agglo2 conurbation, which has opted to subsidise users.

3 DESIGN AND OPERATION OF THE SERVICE

During the operational phase of the service, the main activity is to promote and communicate about car sharing. This must be continuous over time, both to generate new carpoolers and to retain carpoolers who are already using the service. Data processing and analysis is an important activity for assessing the relevance and effectiveness of the service. It is also necessary to maintain the tool used to put people in touch with each other, and to adapt it to the new functions that users want. Finally, the infrastructure must also be kept in good condition. The number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) needed to run a service is between 0.3 and 1, depending on the region, the type of service implemented and the activities carried out.

4 EXAMPLE OF THE SYNCHRO SERVICE IN GREATER CHAMBÉRY

Synchro covoiturage is a public spontaneous carpooling service that uses carpooling lines to serve the outlying areas of Greater Chambéry, complementing existing public transport, cycling and planned carpooling services (Mov’ici, BlablaCar Daily) in order to enable and encourage multimodality and intermodality.

Grand Chambéry, the authority responsible for organising mobility, is managing the implementation and operation of this service. Ecov, a private operator, provided the connection system on the basis of specifications drawn up by the agglomeration. The Ecomobilité Savoie Mont Blanc agency was responsible for communication, support and promotion (before and during the launch).

The first part of the network went into service in 2018 on a trial basis after two years of preparation, awareness-raising and consultation with local residents. It serves three municipalities (3,000 inhabitants) on the Leysse plateau and a ski resort where the majority of residents of the conurbation go cross-country skiing. There are around twenty dedicated stops, allowing service users to board safely (away from traffic) and make journeys of between 4 and 15 kilometres. Each carpool stop is signposted with road markings and vertical signs, is equipped with simple, comfortable street furniture and complies with a uniform graphic charter.

Several types of vertical signage have been installed, depending on requirements and constraints:

The service operates in spontaneous mode, without the need for an application or an internet platform to put people in touch with each other or to make reservations (this is the wish of local residents and is adapted to the context of the suburbs and medium-sized mountains, with users who are poorly connected and areas where there are no internet connections). Passengers arrive at a stop, select their destination (at stops equipped with a box) and wait for a driver to show up. Users of the service can be identified by a carpooler’s card and a sticker for the car, issued by Greater Chambéry once they have registered for the service and signed a charter of good conduct that safeguards the safety of carpoolers, passengers and drivers, and reassures users.

Minors aged 16 and 17 are issued with a special card. The Mov’Ici daily carpooling website and application, set up by the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region, and the BlablaCar Daily application, with a financial incentive campaign run by the AOM, round out the region’s carpooling offer.

Before the health crisis, the carpooling service was used for 700 to 800 journeys a month, with peak full stops in the late afternoon. The number of journeys made is also higher in winter than the rest of the year.

After two successful years of operation, the initial scheme is being extended to several sectors:

Deployment will continue in 2023 for the communes to the west of the conurbation.

5 CONCLUSION

Car-sharing services can be an appropriate response for sparsely populated areas, complementing other mobility services integrated into a multimodal package of services aimed at all local residents.