Carsharing, by allowing for the provision of a vehicle without ownership constraints (investment, fixed costs, parking space, etc.) represents an undeniable advantage. In addition, this service helps reduce car use in town and contributes to the reducing household car use, in particular by giving up or not purchasing a vehicle.
In November 2019, after several months of consultation with car-sharing operators, Ile-de-France Mobilités implemented the “Ile-de-France Car-sharing” certificate which can be identified by a blue badge affixed to the windscreens of carsharing vehicles (cars, scooters or vans). It is a legal and pedagogical tool intended for local authorities. Even though the services proposed by a car-sharing operator may be different, the certificate guarantees all users a common set of services, such as:
- Provision of low polluting vehicles exclusively dedicated to carsharing: electric, hydrogen or petrol/hybrid (Crit’Air Level 1)
- Reservation available for short periods: ten minutes for a free-floating service, one hour for a service with reserved parking stations
- Vehicles available with or without prior reservation
- Clarity of information on the conditions of service
- Service available to the general public, including young drivers
- Regular maintenance of vehicles and customer assistance open whenever the service is operating.
These requirements make the process of selecting operators by local authorities wishing to deploy carsharing in their area easier. In addition, Ile-de-France Mobilités supports them through seminars to present the advantages of this practice, highlight feedback or presenting the legal arrangements for agreements between municipalities and car-sharing operators.
To date, four operators have been awarded the car-sharing certificate: Communauto and Clem’ (round-trip car-sharing), Zity (self-service carsharing without parking stations) and the shared scooter operator Cityscoot. Together, these services operate in a variety of contexts ranging from Paris to the outer suburbs. There are in total nearly 5,000 vehicles with the blue "Car-sharing - Ile-de-France Mobilités" quality guarantee of service who offer the legal advantages of dedicated car-sharing parking. Other operators will soon follow.