Socially conscious driving for fun and profit

>> CommunAuto tries to make money by getting cars off the road

by PHILIP PREVILLE

Claire Morissette seems almost embarrassed to talk about how she earns her living. As founder and director of CommunAuto, she runs a car-sharing operation that makes vehicles available for people who can't afford their own car. CommunAuto has 21 Tercels and Fiestas dispersed in parking lots throughout the Plateau, NDG and Côte-des-Neiges areas. For as little as $35 per year, CommunAuto's 300 members can call and reserve a car whenever they need one, for as little time as they need--even for a half-hour just to run some errands. With about 15 members for every car, Morissette points out, CommunAuto is environmentally friendly too, because it means fewer cars on the road.

Seems like good, socially conscious, urban-ecology-type work. So why is she timid? Perhaps because CommunAuto, despite its Birkenstocky, co-op-sounding moniker, is a for-profit organization. The shyness about profitability even shows up on the company logo, in which the large-lettered "Commun-Auto" is followed by the obligatory but much, much smaller "inc."

When pressed, Morissette makes no apologies: "Just because something is organized as a cooperative doesn't mean it's any better. Even the law recognizes that fact.

"Part of the problem with co-ops is that they change their president and their board every year, and decisions are more complicated. For a small organization like this, a co-op structure isn't the best way to run things. You have to be very hands-on."

Indeed, there's really nothing wrong with creating wealth the environmentally friendly way. But the profit motive also makes her reluctant to talk: she's trying to nurture a bright entrepreneurial idea into a thriving business, and seems wary of creating competition for herself.

It's easy to mistake CommunAuto for a non-profit co-op, because it is a community-based organization. In the Plateau, where most members are located, CommunAuto places two or three cars in different parking lots throughout the neighbourhood. Members receive a key that gives them access to the cars located closest to them.

And when you get through the complicated math, CommunAuto is cheaper than the regular car-rental option. A yearly CommunAuto membership costs as little as $35 or as much as $350, depending on how much city driving you do. For each trip, you pay an hourly fee (instead of the daily fee charged for normal car rentals) for the the time you need the car: $1.50 on weekdays (maximum $15), $2 on weekends (maximum $20). Then you pay a per-kilometre fee on top of that. "There's really no way around the complex structure," Morissette says. "Some people make overnight trips but don't travel very far, while others drive a lot in the space of two hours."

In exchange, CommunAuto pays all insurance costs and reimburses its members for all gasoline purchases. In the end, a weekend at Mont Tremblant costs less than $85 instead of $140. And a three-hour return trip to Ikea on a Saturday costs $14 instead of the usual $60 rental or a $30 cab ride. (In typical profit-seeking fashion, CommunAuto's brochure lists only its cheaper weekday price for the Ikea trip.)

It's not a total bargain, but after all, it's the cushy convenience of a car that people are paying for. "Our typical user is someone who doesn't need a car every day of their lives, but wants to have access to a car when they do need it," says Judith Brown, Commun-Auto's sole other employee.

Brown says most members are not students, but city-dwelling professionals in their 30s and 40s--which is odd, she admits, since "sharing" isn't normally part of the yuppie ethos. "We're promoting a different way of using cars," Brown says. "For us, cars are complementary to buses, taxis and bicycles, instead of competing with them. Our members tend to be regular users of those services as well."

But CommunAuto's social conscience doesn't always square with its profit motive. If you drive more than 3,000 kilometres in the city each year, you pay a higher annual fee ($350) and a lower per-kilometre charge (15 cents). People who think only in terms of money will want to drive as much as possible and get the biggest bang out of their $350.

In other words, the more you drive, the cheaper it costs. So CommunAuto isn't really encouraging people to use cars less, is it? Brown insists it is: "At 15 members per car, we're still more environmentally sound than everyone owning their own car."