Going to work in the morning, going to school, going to the doctor… So many simple trips that are part of our daily lives, but which are not accessible to everyone. For people with disabilities or the elderly, it can be complex or even impossible to take public transport every day. For some, alternative solutions such as a car or a taxi are not necessarily suitable or affordable.
In a society built on the movement of all, being able to access a device enabling these daily journeys to be made is an important condition for social integration. This idea is at the heart of the concept of inclusive mobility. It is defended by MyMobility, which has been providing daily travel for people with disabilities or frailties for more than 20 years.
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Jean-François Pech, CEO of MyMobility, reveals how the company puts innovation at the service of more inclusive mobility for people with disabilities or the elderly. It also reviews future developments in the personal services sector.
How do you see the personal services sector evolving in the coming years?
Although it has developed a great deal, the personal services sector, and in particular that linked to the mobility of disabled people, still needs to expand and become more professional. Even today, our profession is not recognized at its fair value. We are not just a paratransit company, we are an inclusive mobility service company with all the quality commitments that entails.
Indeed, supporting people with disabilities or loss of autonomy requires special know-how. Our mission is very different from that of a taxi. We do not just transport a person from one point to another, but we offer quality, tailor-made support to all our passengers. This is provided by our 3,500 driver-guides who have been trained in caring for disabled people. This Qualiopi-certified “Transport for Persons with Reduced Mobility” (TPMR) training course is an opportunity to raise employees’ awareness of the different types of disability and the delicate situations they may encounter. A training that also allows you to learn how to use and handle users’ wheelchairs as well as the equipment of specifically adapted vehicles.
Another essential point in our sector is the reduction of our environmental footprint. Indeed, more than 10,000 people with disabilities are supported daily. To accomplish this mission of general interest, the 3,500 drivers of MyMobility travel more than 300,000 kilometers every day, seven times around the world! Under these conditions, the question of the environmental footprint and the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) has become strategic within the company.
Our historical model has always consisted in renewing our car fleet every year. However, the energy transition of the vehicle fleet has accelerated over the past three years. Our decarbonization policy and our fleet plan have therefore been completely redesigned to align our vehicle engine choices with the company’s values. MyMobility is committed, by combining the use of cleaner vehicles and eco-driving training, to reducing its CO2 emissions by 8% per year. She is about to succeed in her bet and is seeking Objective CO2 certification. Beyond their environmental performance, the vehicles selected for the adapted support service have all won awards in crash tests.
For MyMobility, inclusive mobility is a mission of general interest which still needs to become more professional. It is on this condition that we will be able to offer our fellow citizens with disabilities a high quality service.
What are the innovations in this sector?
In terms of inclusive mobility, the challenge is above all to make travel for people with disabilities as simple and safe as possible. This requires the integration of technological innovations. This is why, at MyMobility, we are constantly looking for innovations that will make travel easier and more comfortable for our passengers. Our latest converted vehicles are, for example, equipped with a new lateral escalator system. This staircase, with four steps and two handrails, allows easy and safe access to the vehicle since passengers no longer have to step over the minibus platform. It is a valuable aid for the visually impaired or those whose balance is precarious.
Recently, following the health crisis, we took it to heart to protect the disabled people accompanied in our minibuses PAM 78, 92 and 95, via our subsidiary Citémobil, and we were the first to use automatic disinfection in our vehicles. This technology, developed by Technibus and implemented by Handynamic, consists of nozzles integrated into the ceiling of the minibus. They spray a virucide, approved by an independent Institute, in the entire cabin. An unprecedented technology that allows daily disinfection, an essential tool in the fight against all viruses (Influenza, Covid, etc.).
Digital improvements are also at the heart of the customer and user experience, with the development of an application for the families of accompanied children. This application makes it possible to follow the pick-up, the route, the drop-off of the children, but also to communicate with our operating services and our accompanying drivers. It’s a real plus that brings our business into a new dimension, with professionalism and high standards that meet the expectations of our customers (departments and social medical institutes), and of course users.
What are the trends in offers related to mobility accessibility?
Since its inception, The MyMobility Group has only one ambition: to improve the mobility of disabled and elderly people. To do this, we are constantly adapting our offer to demand in terms of mobility. Personal service, and the transport of people with disabilities in particular, requires expertise to meet specific needs. To do this, we wanted to develop a high-quality service offer based on demanding training for the 3,500 driver guides who are the referents for the children and adults transported. We choose them first on human criteria: sensitive to disability, empathetic and sympathetic! It is a professionalization of the profession which is still in progress and which must continue in the coming years, to offer the best to our passengers.
Over the years of experience, we have come to realize that the paratransit sector is not just reserved for people with disabilities, but also for seniors who are losing their autonomy and therefore their mobility. Thus, over the years the MyMobility group has diversified to offer solutions adapted to everyone: for children with school transport, but also for adults with on-demand transport, via our dedicated subsidiary Citémobil. We have also developed an offer for the provision and rental of suitable vehicles, under the Callengo brand. The adapted vehicles that operate on the runways of Orly airport are an example of our know-how.
What are the governance models for companies in the sector?
Ensuring the mobility of people with disabilities is a profession of general interest, based on strong convictions. MyMobility reaffirms every day with its employees and people with disabilities that it conveys its own values: respect for its employees, transparency and integrity with its beneficiaries and partners – excellence, quality of service, professionalism – responsibility towards society and the environment – solidarity with the disabled, the fragile, the elderly.
In concrete terms, the MyMobility Group works daily to make its values coincide with the exercise of its activity. It works in particular to meet the quality requirements required by the beneficiaries of our services and is part of a permanent process of quality improvement. To structure this approach, our company and our teams are committed, on the one hand, to compliance with a code of conduct and ethics, and on the other hand, to labeling and certification projects.
Signatory of the Objective CO2 charter, MyMobility is committed to continuing to reduce its environmental footprint by combining both the use of cleaner vehicles and its efforts to raise awareness among its 3,500 drivers about eco-driving. The company has thus set itself the objective of reducing its CO2 emissions by 8% per year and eliminating all diesel vehicles by 2030.
Another commitment of the group, that of the quality of service and this notably involves the training of its driver-guides. At the start of the year, the MyMobility Group’s internal training center obtained Qualiopi certification. Awarded following a rigorous and standardized process, this government label guarantees, in accordance with the “National Quality Guidelines”, the conformity and solidity of the training provided by the company to employees of the MyMobility group. A further commitment from MyMobility which ensures a quality service for its passengers.
What is the MyMobility Group’s vision for 2022?
The development of demand-responsive transport is the key to the success of truly inclusive mobility and society. The needs are enormous because the challenge is to make both disabled people and fragile or vulnerable people mobile, and in particular the elderly, whose numbers are constantly growing. You will therefore have to adapt to offer a service that meets every need of daily life: going to school, to the doctor, to work and why not to your place of leisure, vacation…