“It’s automatic, it has a code to turn it on, and even a cassette radio.” This old blue Citroën ZX with a Parisian license plate was, in its day, a high-end variant. Today, far from retiring, it has become the car of a small French village of 660 inhabitants.
In Pont-de-Barret, on the doorstep of Provence, about thirty residents share that Citroën ZX. More than a rural version of the car-sharing concept we see in big cities, such as Guppy or Wible, or in some Spanish towns through Hyundai ViVe, this is a mobility solution designed by the villagers for the village itself, located in the French equivalent of the Spain “Depopulated,” facing a lack of public transport.
The village car, literally
This isn’t a Spain-only phenomenon; across nearly all of Europe, outside the major urban areas, public transportation is a rare bird. Often without trains and with buses that run four times a day, these are regions where without a car, or a bike, you can’t do anything.
That is also the case in Pont-de-Barret, located 25 km from Montélimar in Provence, along the Diagonal of the Void—the French equivalent of the Spain “Depopulated.” Five friends and neighbors decided to take action and offer, without profit, a shared car for the village population.
“The idea emerged from an observation: on one hand, many cars in the village stayed in garages, and on the other, some residents didn’t have a vehicle. And here there’s only one bus a day! We became interested in car-sharing initiatives and, very quickly, threw ourselves into the adventure,” explains Xavier Charles, one of the creators of the initiative.
The car wasn’t bought; it was a gift from the grandfather of one of them. And it is a resounding success in the village. On average, neighbors use it two or three times a week. For some users, it has allowed them to save by letting go of their own car.
And it’s not that they hog the car, but they only use it when the weather is bad or they need to go to the city, for example. Or it even helps occasionally, when the car has to stay at the workshop for whatever reason and you still need to go to work.
That it is non-profit does not mean it’s free. It costs about 0.25 euros per kilometer, a price that takes into account fuel and maintenance of the car. The tracking system for everyone is as analog as it gets. Each user records the kilometers driven, as well as what the fuel cost was when refueling. Since late November 2021, the car has logged more than 30,000 km.
Camille Gandioli shared a car with her partner until he had to use the car from Monday to Friday to attend a nine-month course. “Normally I go by bicycle, but with the kids it’s impossible,” she told Reporterre. With the ZX she has managed to dodge the need to buy a second car.
Christian Deloraine, an 81-year-old retired luthier and single man, noted that “I have modest income and this car has saved my life,” giving him mobility that would be impossible to achieve if he had to buy a car.
Users organize themselves via a Telegram group. To open and start the car, you must go to the nerve center of all villages: the bar. “The protocol is very simple: the car key is in the village bar, which opens from 7 in the morning until ten at night,” says Xavier.
This initiative has resonated across the region. In the neighboring village of Crest, private individuals lend their cars; there are up to eight cars in rotation, and a little over forty users.
For some users, car sharing is a way to access the freedom of movement that a car provides without compromising their ecological principles. While the carbon footprint isn’t reduced in absolute terms, one can consider that they save the carbon footprint of 10, 20, or 40 more cars on the road.
But above all, it is a response to the undeniable fact in the vast majority of rural areas: a car is usually indispensable in these zones, where the supply of public transport is exceedingly limited.
Images | Le Nouvel Obs
