Getting to the station. Running errands. Seeing a doctor. Going to sport and leisure venues. Visiting a government office. For people who live in rural, thinly populated areas, private cars are often the only solution for routine journeys like these. To expand the use of shared vehicles and limit the environmental impact of day-to-day travel, we worked with Via Transportation to create an experimental scheme for sharing cars—with a driver and on demand.

Ma Course SNCF is an experiment in shared mobility that makes daily life easier for seniors, young people under 18, and anyone else who doesn’t have a driver’s license or a vehicle of their own. From February 2021 through July 2022, we tested this new solution in north-western France, in 5 rural towns between the cities of Le Mans and Tours. With support from local governments, Ma Course SNCF served customers in Montval-sur-Loir, Lavernat, Luceau, Flée and Vaas.

This attractively priced service is built on a weekly schedule that caters to the travel habits of rural residents, with 4 mobility offers for select destinations at specific times of day:

• our Station offer gets customers to their TER station for €3 per person
• our Shops and Services offer is priced at just €2 per person
• our Leisure offer takes customers to cultural, sport and leisure events for €2 per person
• our School offer serves educational establishments at lunchtime for €2 per person

We rounded out these 4 targeted offers with a “customer’s choice” service that lets users book a car for any destination at any time, for just €7 per person per journey.

We designed this experimental on-demand offer around the travel habits of local residents, and it can be adapted to any rural community. It could also be supplemented by weekend car-sharing service from Ouicar Connect.

Customers can book Ma Course SNCF from 1 month to 30 minutes in advance (subject to availability) using a phone, a mobile app, or a dedicated website. They can pay by credit card from the mobile app or the website, or pay the driver directly with a credit card, cash or check at the time of service.

By meeting the mobility needs of local residents, Ma Course SNCF expanded their travel options:

• 700 customer accounts created
• 350 journeys per month in the last quarter
• 98% customer satisfaction

Ma Course SNCF is also a valuable companion for rail service:

• 40% of journeys were made to or from the local TER station
• 32% of users say that the service encouraged them to travel by train
• 20% of users would not have gone to the station without Ma Course SNCF¹