The Motability Foundation-funded project is looking for private and public sector partners.
According to the charity, CoMoUK, and the Research Institute of Disabled Consumers, just 10% of people registered as differently abled have used shared micromobility services.
This is due to a variety of reasons, including not knowing where to find or book them, and associated apps being incompatible with their other assistive technologies. Significantly, the study suggests that these issues represent barriers ‘over and above ‘vehicle design, which includes e-bikes, e-scooters and other personal transport modalities. Previous CoMoUK research has shown that 70% of people with disabilities who had trialled micromobility schemes became confident enough to continue using them.
Try-out sessions, social gatherings, road confidence training, support navigating booking systems and buddy rides are all needed to address these issues. Local authorities, community groups, and micromobility operators have now been invited to submit
‘We’re really excited to have awarded grant funding to CoMoUK to deliver this important project,’ said Harry Fisher, innovation manager at the Motability Foundation. ‘The recent research that we commissioned on accessible micromobility found that over half of disabled people think these services have the potential to improve their lives, but very few have used them or are aware of how to access them. We hope that through this project we can support disabled people to access this fast-growing transport mode.’
‘This is a really important project, which will directly address some of the barriers facing disabled people who want to use shared micromobility services in their area, added Richard Dilks, chief executive at CoMoUK. ‘Our research shows that inaccessible vehicle designs are not the only issue, but a lack of awareness and confidence when it comes to using shared e-scooters and e-bikes too.
Image: Bolt / Unsplash
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