Sustainable transportation in Saint-Laurent: The Borough and theTwo Laurentian Colleges launch pilot project with Netlift multi modal carpooling application

SAINT-LAURENT, QC, May 12, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Borough of Saint-Laurent, Vanier College and Cégep de Saint-Laurent are teaming up to optimize their employees' mobility and promote sustainable transportation. Over 2,000 employees will therefore have the opportunity to take part in this project being launched with Netlift, a state-of-the-art technological application developed in Québec.

Saint-Laurent, in cooperation with MOBA/Mobilité alternative, is the first of the 19 Montréal boroughs to offer Netlift to its employees as a smart mobility tool. As for Cégep de Saint-Laurent and Vanier College, they are the first colleges to adopt such a measure.

Netlift

"The Netlift application has been designed to help people get to their destination more quickly and at lesser cost, through multi-modal transportation," explained Netlift's CEO Marc-Antoine Ducas. "A natural extension of public transit, Netlift puts drivers in contact with suburban commuters. Combining various means of transportation, multi-modal transportation makes travelling between home and work more efficient, less stressful and less harmful to the planet. By smartly linking carpooling with public transit, people save time and money, while cutting down on congestion during rush hours."

Borough

"Over the past several years, our borough has implemented incentive measures to encourage municipal employees to opt for other means of transportation than a single-occupancy vehicle," pointed out Borough Manager Véronique Doucet. "By offering them a technology such as Netlift, we hope that carpooling will become an easy, practical option for them—an option that supplements the other means of sustainable transportation that we are promoting."

Cégep de Saint-Laurent

"Cégep de Saint-Laurent has always been concerned about the environment. It's not new: in the days of the classical college, it was already common practice to adopt an eco-responsible approach," mentioned Cégep de Saint-Laurent Director General Mathieu Cormier as a reminder. "So it's only natural for our cégep to be a leader in carpooling and to take pride in being part of an urban mobility solution."

Vanier College

"Today's announcement is a genuine example of a situation that benefits all those concerned," stated Vanier College Director General Normand W. Bernier. "By joining in this initiative, Vanier College is completely fulfilling its role as a responsible partner in the Saint-Laurent community as a whole. In promoting Netlift and carpooling, we are offering a viable alternate transportation solution to people who come to our college day after day."

MOBA/Mobilité alternative

"Companies share with us the recruitment and employee retention problems they are facing--problems caused by lack of accessibility and delays due to congestion," commented MOBA/Mobilité alternative Coordinator Aline Berthe. "To cope with these challenges, more of these companies must encourage other options than single-occupancy vehicles. MOBA/Mobilité alternative is here to inform them about existing alternatives that are often not well known and to find new ones: that's why we are going to evaluate the Netlift pilot project with great interest."

Borough of Saint-Laurent and Ville de Montréal

"Ville de Montréal supports all initiatives that can contribute toward reducing our environmental footprint, as we proved again with our recent announcement about the electrification of transportation," remarked Aref Salem, City Councillor for the Norman-McLaren district and member of the Executive Committee responsible for transportation. "This project with Netlift therefore comes as excellent news."

Saint-Laurent Borough Hall

"Sustainable transportation is becoming increasingly important on Saint-Laurent territory. This pilot project with Netlift is therefore very much in keeping with our objectives in this regard," Saint-Laurent Borough Mayor was pleased to add. "We wish to thank Cégep de Saint-Laurent and Vanier College for teaming up with us to promote this promising initiative."

SOURCE Ville de Montréal - Arrondissement de Saint-Laurent

Arrondissement de Saint-Laurent : Marie-Noël Pichelin, 514 855-6000, ext. 4313, [email protected]; Netlift : Marc-Antoine Dugas, 514 804-7454, [email protected]; Vanier College : Marguerite Corriveau, 514-744-7500, ext. 7596, [email protected]; Cégep de Saint-Laurent : Louise Lavallée, 514 747-6521, ext. 7308, [email protected]; MOBA : Elisabeth Tremblay, 514 855-6000, ext. 4846, [email protected]