Île-de-France transport strike carpooling Navigo, Digi Mart USA News (Île-de-France, France): A suppressed RER train on Thursday, November 5 does not have to mean a taxi ride. With a monthly or annual Navigo pass, or an Imagine R package, Covoit IDFM offers two free carpool trips per day, and the driver who picks you up receives up to €3 per passenger, paid by Île-de-France Mobilités.
These rules apply on a strike day just like any other day. During past transport strikes, the Île-de-France transport authority opened free rides to all passengers.
As of November 1, no special offer had been announced for November 5.
Covoit IDFM is the carpooling service of Île-de-France Mobilités, launched under that name in February 2026. It takes two forms: planned trips booked through an app, and carpool lines with stops, where the passenger boards without a reservation.
The price depends on distance and on your transport pass. With a Navigo or Imagine R pass, two trips per day cost nothing.
Without a subscription, the passenger pays €0.50 for trips under 20 km since April 1, 2026, plus a per-kilometer supplement up to 30 km.
The driver is paid for each passenger carried: the fuller the car, the higher the amount, up to a limit of €200 in earnings per month. For a regular commute, this amount is added to the fuel savings that carpooling provides on the way to the office.
Three cases do not qualify for any payment:
The fee schedule contains no exception for a strike day. A trip that follows the same route as a train, metro or RER line remains outside the subsidy, even if that line is disrupted, unless Île-de-France Mobilités announces an exceptional measure.
The fee schedule does not depend on traffic: it applies on November 5 just as on November 4 or November 6. During past strikes, Île-de-France Mobilités went further, offering free trips to all passengers, subscribers or not, and paying each driver trip through a special subsidy via its partner platforms (BlaBlaLines, Covoit’ici, Karos, Klaxit, OuiHop’).
For November 5, no activation of this measure had been announced as of November 1. The SNCF publishes its traffic forecasts the day before; the IDFM website and app will indicate any exceptional measure.
If you are also taking children, the insurance rules for school carpooling apply, and if the school closes, childcare may fall to the local council, depending on the share of striking teachers.
The Transport Code (art. L3132-1) defines carpooling as sharing costs without profit.
Within this framework, your auto insurance contract and premium remain the same. Civil liability, the mandatory coverage that pays damages caused to others, also covers transported passengers.
The limit lies in profit: a paid activity beyond cost sharing is no longer carpooling, and the contract no longer covers it. Covoit IDFM was designed by the transport authority to remain a form of carpooling, with amounts capped at €3 per passenger and €200 per month.
Details are in our piece on commuter carpooling and auto insurance.
A one-off trip on a strike day does not change your declaration. If carpooling becomes daily, annual mileage matters more, especially with pay-per-kilometer insurance: it is a good time to check your declared mileage ceiling, or even to change auto insurer.
