The carsharing service Communauto had to call its users to order on Friday when many carelessly left their cars in Montreal anyway during the last snowfall.
“It’s always good to repeat instructions,” explained Marco Viviani, vice president of strategic development at Communauto, in an interview with Le Journal. I can’t say that these are common cases, but suffice it that there is one that is found in all media.”
The company sent its subscribers an email titled “Winter Memories” on Friday in response to “funny, but sometimes dramatic” situations in which its vehicles were so poorly parked that they went viral on social media.
The most notorious case was found in a Jan. 17 TikTok video of comedian Mathieu Dufour filming a communauto perched on a snow bank far from the roadside.
Last Thursday, it was Radio Canada’s Jean-Philippe Wauthier’s turn to tweet about a commune car that had been left in the middle of its alley and buried in the snow for “five days”.
However, the latter currently has no plans to tighten the screw against careless users.
In its message, Commuauto mentions “the reputational impact this can have when vehicles are parked in places where they impede the passage of residents or when they are the subject of complaints from parking managers”.
Risky parking contracts
Marco Viviani explains that these behaviors endanger, among other things, the many parking spaces rented by Communauto to deploy its stations in different neighborhoods.
“Of course, if someone’s behavior is causing harm to other parking lot users, we can hear managers threatening to end the relationship,” he explains.
However, the latter currently has no plans to tighten the screw against careless users.
“The situation is really amplified a lot by the media and social networks, he believes. There aren’t that many cases that would justify new rules.”
COMMUNAUTO WITH KIND PHOTO
Communauto included this photo in its message to its subscribers, where we can see a parked vehicle blocking access to a parking space reserved for its cars.
Under the current policy, a subscriber who abandons a poorly parked vehicle can see their bill add up to hundreds of dollars for towing and snow removal costs, in addition to rental fees for lost time.
In addition, the last user who used the vehicle will be charged an administrative offense notice from the city.
“Theoretically, we have penalties that we use in the most extreme cases,” specifies Mr. Viviani. We have a whole escalation of things that we can apply with judgment until the subscription is suspended,” he adds.
Good “frustrated” users
Robin Black, himself a Communauto subscriber, this week photographed a vehicle parked at an angle blocking the entrance to an alleyway in the Villeray district.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN BLACK
Robin Black photographed a car parked at an angle blocking the entrance to an alleyway on Gounod Street in the Villeray borough on Thursday.
“It’s rude behavior and I’m afraid it gives the impression that there are a lot of people [d’abonnés] eighth, which is not the case at all. It’s frustrating for good users.”
Mr. Black believes that Communauto should better communicate the actions it is taking against problem users and, where appropriate, impose hefty administrative penalties or set up a penalty system.