Driving, Parking, and Ending a Trip

You can go anywhere in Canada or in the United States with a round-trip Communauto vehicle.

However, at the end of your trip, you must always release the car back at the station or station zone where you started your trip.

During your trip, you are responsible for parking the vehicle legally and respecting signage like any other driver. At the end of your trip, you must always release the car back at the station or station zone where you started your trip.

You can find parking details for a specific station in the Communauto app by clicking on the station name once you have selected a vehicle.

To find out the parking rules specific to a station, simply, after launching a search for “Find a vehicle” in the Communauto application, click on the name of this station. Learn more.

Please note: If your round-trip vehicle is equipped with a parking permit and you are travelling to another city where Communauto operates, you will not have access to the same parking privileges as granted in the vehicle’s city of origin (parking permits from one city are not valid in another).

It is important to end your trip properly. Closing the doors to the vehicle, or using the buttons inside to lock the doors, is not enough to correctly end your trip.

To end a trip properly and in a secure way, you must:

1. Return the vehicle to the station or station zone where you picked it up.
   If you are returning to a station that you’re less familiar with, you can click on the name of the station in the mobile app to access station information. (See the section on Station Information for more details.)
2. Plug the car key back into the key/card holder in the glove box, where you took it from at the start of your trip.
   Please note, it is the USB stick or the round plastic plug attached to the car key (not the car key blade itself) that must be inserted. Ensure the gas cards have been returned as well. The red light on the key/card holder will go off once everything is properly inserted.
3. Exit the car, close the doors, and:
   In the Communauto app, click on “End trip”. This will simultaneously lock the doors, rearm the immobilizer, and release the vehicle.
   With your RFID key or equivalent: Place your RFID key or equivalent on the reader (this will lock the doors and rearm the vehicle but will not release the vehicle earlier than the end time of your trip).
4. Always double-check that the doors are locked before leaving the vehicle.
   In case of any problems, see: What should I do if I’m having trouble ending my trip with a Round-trip vehicle?

See also:

If I lock the doors with my RFID key or equivalent, why doesn’t this “release” a station-based vehicle?

If your reservation is already in progress, you can “Release” the vehicle by clicking on “End trip” in the Communauto app or “R” (for “Release”) in your online account.

Releasing a vehicle makes it available again for other users to reserve. When you release a vehicle, the unused portion of the initial reservation remains billable up to a maximum of 24 hours. However, no fees apply beyond the first day (see Appendix – Penalties and Other Fees).

Important note for members using an RFID key fob (or equivalent) instead of the app to lock the doors at the end of a trip:

Locking the doors in this way will secure the vehicle, but this does not release the vehicle and make it available to other users.

If you are close to the end of your reservation, this might not make a difference. Otherwise, it is better to return to the app to release the vehicle.

If you return a vehicle several days earlier than planned, it is very important to release it properly. You will be responsible for the cost of the additional days if you do not release the vehicle.

See also:

What is the difference between cancelling a reservation and releasing a vehicle?

If I lock the doors with my RFID key or equivalent, why doesn’t this “release” a station-based vehicle?

The main reason can be summed up in one word: reservation! Station-based vehicles must be reserved in advance, whereas FLEX vehicles are accessible spontaneously, or in other words, “without reservation.”

When you reserve a station-based vehicle, you specify a time slot that includes an end time. Using your RFID key or equivalent to lock the doors does not change the end time of the trip. Therefore, no one else can reserve this vehicle until the end of the time slot you originally entered. Only the action of releasing the vehicle by selecting “End Trip” in the app will make it available to other users for reservation.

Some context

We chose this mode of operation to avoid penalizing members who might end their trip unintentionally. In the past, members had to use their RFID key or equivalent after each engine stop to disarm the vehicle before restarting their journey. This mode of operation still exists for vehicles based at stations with no network coverage. Therefore, there is a risk that some users might accidentally end their trip with the key fob, even out of habit.

We are currently working to harmonize the trip experience across our entire network. Once this is done, there will be less risk of confusion. It will then only be a matter of time before we modify the end-of-trip process for station-based vehicles to mirror the FLEX experience, where it is already possible to release the vehicle using the RFID key or equivalent.

See also:

How do I release a car if I’m done using it earlier than expected?