Description
Citiz is a French network of car-sharing operators, most of them cooperatives. Members book a car by the hour or the day, pick it up from a fixed station near home and bring it back there, paying for the time and the kilometres; fuel, insurance and maintenance are included.
The network grew out of local car-sharing groups in Strasbourg, Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble, which founded the cooperative France Autopartage in 2002 to share software and services. The operators have used the Citiz name since 2013. There are now 15 independent local operators, either collective-interest cooperatives (SCIC), where users and local councils can hold shares with one vote each, or public companies. Together they had about 2,800 cars in 280 towns and at 130 railway stations, and some 130,000 users in 2026.
Prices are set locally. In Rennes, with a €12 monthly subscription, a small car costs from €3 an hour plus €0.42 per km; without a subscription, from €5 an hour plus €0.51 per km (checked November 2026). After an accident they caused, members pay an excess of €600 or €900. Citiz cites a 2022 survey by the 6t bureau for ADEME that found 20 % less car use and 22 % more cycling among car-sharers.
Strengths
- Fuel, insurance and maintenance are in the price, with no car to buy, park or repair.
- Local cooperatives in which users and towns can become members, with one vote each.
- Cars in 280 towns and at 130 railway stations, handy at the end of a train journey.
Weaknesses
- Round trips only: the car goes back to the station it came from, at the time booked.
- Each operator has its own sign-up and prices, and outside towns there are few cars or none.
- An excess of €600 to €900 after an accident one caused, unless one pays to reduce it.
Who it is for
Town dwellers who drive a few times a month, for big shopping trips, a weekend away or a journey on from a station, and who want to give up a car or not buy one.