Ecov CEO: “Fraud Happened” - How France Cleaned Up Carpooling

What is carpooling?

Lars: What is Ecov’s concept in one sentence?

Thomas: Ecov creates public transport lines using cars. We design stops and routes just like a bus operator would, but instead of buses, we rely on the free seats in cars. Passengers get metro-like service with short waits, on average less than 4 minutes, and drivers simply share seats as they travel. This is a real-time matching system based on statistics, that does not require pre-booking neither for the driver, nor for the passenger.

 We understand the flows of people in the territory or why people are moving from A to B, and how currently they're using their own cars. Then we design the lines for the public transport authorities exactly like a bus transit operator would do. So we designed the line, the stops, the points, in connection with the other public transport system.

Carpooling line success factors

Lars: So, it feels like taking a metro for the passenger and it’s planned like a bus line. But how much does it cost?

Thomas: For passengers, local authorities decide the pricing. Often it’s the same as the price of a bus ticket, or even free as part of a multimodal pass. Drivers sometimes get no money, sometimes a small incentive of about €0.10 per kilometer, just enough to cover part of their costs. The important part is that this is not black-market ride-hailing. Drivers are going where they were already going; we just help them share seats and split their costs.

Lars: Where has this really worked?

Thomas: It took years of trial and error, but our breakthrough came on the line between Bourgoin-Jallieu and Lyon. We finally reached critical mass: onboarding enough drivers and passengers to make it reliable. That led to real modal shift, drivers leaving their cars at home and becoming passengers.

Why PTAs are less likely to succeed building carpooling operations

Lars: That sounds a bit like the complexity ride-hailing market launchers would face, matching supply of drivers with the demand of acquiring customers. Some public transport authorities think they can build this themselves. Why not?

Thomas: Because it’s complex. You need technology for real-time matching, but also physical stops, local authority partnerships, user communication, marketing, and data science. It’s an entire value chain. We’ve succeeded because we manage all of that and make it work.

Lars: How does this compare to ride-hailing or conventional carpooling?

Thomas: Ride-hailing uses professional drivers; we don’t. Our drivers are just normal commuters, and that’s why they’re paid much less. Carpooling platforms usually try to match people from anywhere to anywhere, based on pre-booked matching. 

Our approach is closer to mass transit. Why is it possible to have 300 people in trains or 30 people in buses? Because we have built the conditions for people to meet in place and time to share pieces of their trip. We are just doing the same, but for cars.

Inspiration from historic and informal transit

Lars: Very cool. Did you take inspiration from history, like how buses started as cars?

Thomas: Yes, and also from informal transport in Africa and Latin America, where cars and minibuses operate like shared transit. We’ve always asked: why were car occupancy rates higher in the past, and why are they still higher in some regions?

Lars: I love that this is your inspiration - I’ve always been fascinated by informal transit in South America and Africa. What is the opportunity for carpooling? 

Thomas: 81% of km travelled in France are done by car. These kilometres are not done in town centres. They are done outside of town centres, a lot of it between suburbs and town centres. For a long time people didn’t care about these rides. Now they are.  

Why PTAs demand carpooling lines

Lars: That sounds like a worthy cause. You’re still the only operator in France doing line-based carpooling. How is the tendering landscape developing?

Thomas: Now PTAs are realizing they need line solutions. We’re working with Lyon Metropole, Île-de-France Mobilités, Grenoble Metropole, as well as one large Region in the south of France, to name a few.

Lars: Why do they want lines? What do the numbers show so far?

Thomas: On mature lines, we achieve 10–30% modal share in covered corridors, and 10–20% of passengers have reduced the number of cars in their households. Drivers save a few dozen euros, and passengers save up to 300€ per month. Costs are under €0.30 per passenger-kilometer, cheaper than cars and even buses.

What other countries can learn from France’s carpooling regulations

Lars: What can other countries learn from France’s carpooling regulations? 

Thomas: They passed an important mobility law in 2017 (Loi d’orientation des mobilités, a national mobility law that gives local authorities new powers and funding to develop shared mobility across the entire country). It created a very clear and organized framework for short-distance carpooling. There was a lot of support from the ministers and local authorities to build new innovations and make things happen. There was also money to help public and private stakeholders to develop companies and subsidies. 

Most importantly, the French State developed a “Green fund” (Fonds Vert, a national funding program for ecological transition) to help the municipalities to implement energy transition in general. Regarding carpooling, the Green fund co-financed the PTAs to develop new carpooling services. This was very important, because it created an incentive for PTAs to start new policies regarding occupancy rate -a totally new area- and they started to create a budget line for carpooling. This was the real start of the market. 

Carpooling controversies in France

Lars: If I was a transit politician I would be finding my check book! But one thing I think they would ask about - France has also had its share of carpooling controversies. What’s your take on the white certificates scheme?

Thomas: The idea was good: fund energy efficiency by making energy providers buy certificates. But for carpooling it was poorly designed. Certificates were overestimated (by a factor of 30 or more), fraud happened, and operators chased subsidies instead of building real services. It distorted the market. Thankfully, the scheme ended.

Lars: You’ve earlier told me of subsidy fraud. Can you share more? 

Thomas: There was a subsidy at the national level funded by the white certificates where new drivers were given 100 euros to get onboarded. But the criteria were really too loose. The result was that everybody was incentivised to do just 1 or 10 trips, with an absolute major windfall effect: people already carpooling just downloaded apps and then got the subsidy. So no real mode shift happened.

Autonomous carpooling and the future

Lars: Autonomous vehicles - opportunity or threat?

Thomas: Both. AVs decouple the car from the driver, which could be catastrophic if they’re just used as private cars or robotaxis, it would create more congestion. But if used like public transport, AVs could reduce fleet size by a factor of four. That requires planning and networks like our lines to make sharing natural.

Lars: So you’re saying the future is a blend: on-demand, carpooling, and public transport all working together?

Thomas: Exactly. Users will have choices: pay more for solo door-to-door, or pay less for shared trips on defined lines. With the right public policy, we can design a mobility system that benefits everyone and uses vehicles far more efficiently, even in sparse density areas.

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