Paris - (AFP) - France has recently been witnessing "record levels" of use of ride-sharing platforms, a direct result of the fuel shortage crisis and public transport strikes that are prompting the French to increasingly seek means of mass transportation on their daily trips.

Abdul Hakim, who requested that his surname not be mentioned, confirms that this approach is "very practical" and bears benefit to all. And when he settled two months ago in Isère (southeast) he was at first in dire need of his car” and provides for joint trips to Grenoble.

However, the fuel shortage crisis prompted him to become one of the passengers on the daily joint flights. He says that traveling with others made him use "less fuel" and enabled him to save, "in addition to reducing environmental pollution." Abdel Hakim intends to continue in this way even after the end of the fuel shortage crisis, and says, "My times are flexible, so I am not obligated to return early or late" to the house.

"Fuel has become a luxury commodity for many French people," notes Nicolas Michaud, spokesman for the "Bla Bla Car" platform for sharing trips.

The "Bla Bla Car Daily" network, which provides short daily trips, notes that the demand for joint trips has increased by 30% since the start of the workers' strike in a number of French refineries and the resulting fuel shortage crisis.

Michaud explains that the phenomenon of joint mobility "was noticed since last year," with the French increasingly resorting to this step, but with the recorded inflation and the shortage of fuel, the number of users of the application reached record numbers.

On Monday, on the eve of a day in which he called for "mobilization and strike" in various parts of France, the strike was suspended in three out of seven refineries and five large warehouses belonging to "Total Energy", which led to more pressure on fuel supplies.

The "Karoos" platform, which has 600,000 users, is testing the same experience. Its spokesman, Tom Attias, told AFP that during the weekend of October 8-9, it saw a record number of users.

The platform notes an increase in the number of new users by 44% on the morning of the tenth of October, and Attias indicates that these constitute “people who did not find fuel” to fuel their cars, or others who have this substance and “wish to benefit others from the standpoint of solidarity.” .

The company launched a communication campaign via SMS, electronic messages and notifications with the aim of "encouraging drivers who have empty seats in their cars to take passengers" with them, according to Atias.

Patrick Robinson Clough, president of Citigo, which represents an application for shared trips in Paris and its suburbs, Lille, Lyon and Marseille, notes that the percentage of use of the platform increased by 42%, while the number of drivers doubled between the third and the tenth of October. The momentum of the app is "continuing," he told AFP.

Trips between the place of residence and the place of work represent a quarter of the trips taken by the two million users of the platform, while the other routes represent “private, recreational, family trips, or towards a destination for cultural activities” or to attend medical appointments, according to Robinson Clough.

Allar Condé-Pequet, development director of the “Ecove” platform, which established about fifty lines of shared transportation around French cities, confirms that the platform recorded record numbers last week (with a 15% increase in its previous record for the number of drivers of joint trips).

Patrick Robinson Clough explains that some drivers had to become passengers due to the lack of fuel, while one driver reported that he "did not have enough fuel" to allow him to reach the common trip area.

Condé Pique considers that crises, and similar to the stages in which fuel shortages or high prices are recorded, "may occur for specific uses" that companies operating in the sector wish to "transform into a radical change."

Tom Tyas believes that "sharing trips is a future solution." And during the public transport strikes in 2019, "50% of those who adopted it continued to use the +Karos+ app after the end of the crisis."