“Just stand for a few minutes and watch the cars passing. You’ll notice that most of them are carrying jut one person, the driver. In fact, the figure for France is that 80 per cent of people travel alone in their car most of the time. In today’s world that just doesn’t make sense.”

That’s the opinion of Olivier Geffroy, president of Covoiturage 06, a Valbonne-based association which brings together commuters who regularly take the same route and would benefit from sharing a car.

“The most obvious advantage,” points out Olivier, “is the saving on fuel costs. Payment for petrol is split by arrangement between two or more people. And then Covoiturage – that’s the French term for this system – reduces the number of cars on the road and that’s something that will be appreciated, for example, by anyone who drives in and out of Sophia every day.”

So how does it work? “It’s simple. You log on to our web site at www.covoiturage06.fr and enroll as a passenger, driver or both and we’ll fit you up with someone who does the same commute as you.” Has car-sharing proved popular? “Absolutely and I’m particularly impressed by how it seems to appeal to many of our local anglophones – Brits, Americans, Canadians and so on – who’ve been very quick to sign up.”

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