[Company focus] Citiz Alpes-Loire: cooperating to develop car-sharing
![[Company focus] Citiz Alpes-Loire: cooperating to develop car-sharing](https://www.eclaira.org/data/sources/users/3/citiz-2.webp)
Although passenger cars spend the vast majority of their time on parking spaces, for local authorities they are a source of air pollution, consumption of public space and road congestion. The shared use of vehicles is one possible response to these findings. Citiz Alpes-Loire, based in Grenoble, offers a self-service car service based on the mobilization of many public and private stakeholders.
In Grenoble, car-sharing was initiated in the early 2000s by two researchers in economics inspired by initiatives in Germany, Marseilles and Strasbourg. In 2005, a car-sharing association was created for private individuals. Five years later, it was transformed into an SCIC (société coopérative d’intérêt collectif - cooperative community-oriented enterprise) in association with a car-hire company for professionals located in Chambéry.
This change in status has enabled Citiz Alpes-Loire to improve its financial standing and develop its service on a regional scale. The sale of shares to cooperators makes it possible to limit the need for subsidies, and open up to new partners and territories while raising funds more easily.
"ON YOUR OWN YOU GO QUICKER, BUT TOGETHER YOU GO FURTHER"
The point of an SCIC is not just about the financial model it offers; it is a status that makes the defence of collective interest and democratic management around shared values central to its activity. So the cooperating stakeholders are involved in governance under the “one person, one vote” principle. This status is particularly well suited to car-sharing: the willingness to get involved in mobility policies and to respond to mobility needs requires close cooperation with public stakeholders, various companies working in the field of mobility, and users. The employees are also cooperators, as are Social Economy structures and any person wishing to support the company. Moreover, cooperation reflects certain values inherent in the practice of car-sharing, such as the importance of social links and the community.
According to Martin Lesage, director of Citiz Alpes-Loire, the development of car-sharing requires a collective, agile approach, so multi-stakeholder management seems preferable to "traditional" institutionalization or management by a private operator. Mobilizing public or private stakeholders and obtaining their cooperation requires building relationships of trust. They need to be convinced of the relevance and viability of the project and the value of working together. This is difficult when the concept that is advocated is an emerging one and requires a change of vision about the use of private cars and about mobility more generally.
Citiz Alpes-Loire has managed to mobilize users as well as local authorities and transport companies.
To this end, the SCIC listened to the reluctance of the various stakeholders and was able to provide answers. For example, studies on the behaviour of car-sharing users have demonstrated the value of cooperating with operators in the mobility sector since this is beneficial for inter-modality and does not compete with public transports, self-service bicycles or car-sharing.
As for local authorities, they need to be reassured about the financial balance of the project and the "win-win" aspect of the cooperation. When they become cooperators, they commit themselves for five years to using the service and sharing their vehicles, thereby optimizing their use and setting a good example. Some, like Grenoble, began by awarding subsidies before they took the plunge and became cooperators. Local authorities are today the biggest cooperators, holding between €15,000 and €50,000 of capital out of the €600,000 total capital.
Keeping a cooperative society alive: an on-going project
Although necessary, cooperation is not innate. Driving cooperative life is a full-time project and is an activity in its own right for Citiz Alpes-Loire which hires one or more students for long-term internships each year to carry out this mission.
How can cooperators best be involved in governance? How can car-sharing be promoted together? How can everyone taking part ensure that the partnership is in the best interests of all? There are many answers to these questions. They are always changing and require training*, creativity, agility, listening, and openness. The SCIC uses several methods and tools to create a link between cooperators and with other cooperatives and local associations. It organizes events, publishes a newsletter, dedicates time to participatory workshops at each general assembly, sets up working groups open to all members, seeks out synergies with other cooperatives through workshops and ensures representation in local associations. The role of agitator on the administrative committee is also to be emphasized here.
The SCIC’s values sometimes come under strain with the operating logic of a company. Shared governance makes it possible to express these contradictions and to provide answers to them. Members have noted, for example, that promoting Citiz and extending the fleet of vehicles may appear to be contrary to the objective of reducing the amount of travel done by car, but these actions are nevertheless necessary for the project to be financially viable.
The company currently manages 260 cars shared between individuals or professionals in more than 30 towns in the Rhône-Alpes region. It employs 15 people and has about 260 cooperators. It is part of the national Citiz car-sharing network and has recently launched a sharing activity for cars belonging to companies, local authorities or individuals (Ma Chère Auto).
Citiz Alpes-Loire’s ambition is to fully incorporate car-sharing into intermodality. It wants to serve as an example to disseminate this service in its different forms and is planning cooperation with Switzerland. It is now hoping to become a liberated enterprise where the weight of hierarchy is reduced in the way projects are built and where everyone can be an initiator regardless of his/her function. Ma Chère Auto arose from an employee’s idea. This was subjected to collective intelligence with other employees, then members of the board and finally the other members. This approach led to a richer, faster project than if it had been arisen from thinking by an ordinary project group.
* Recently, participation in an MOOC on the shared governance of the Colibris movement.
Consult the presentation of the SCIC Citiz Alpes-Loire initiative on ECLAIRA
Photo credits: ©christophe urbain - Citiz / CIRIDD
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Source: ECLAIRA - Newsletter Number 7 / June 2017
Newsletter edited by CIRIDD with support from Région Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes
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Read this Focus on https://www.eclaira.org/initiative/
