A smart solution without Smartphone: shared mobility for elderly in Belgium
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We are very pleased to present out first outside contribution to Sharitories “Stories”, this time given by OuiShare Connector and founder of Taxistop Angelo Meuleman , who has been actively following and participating in the first steps of Sharitories. Enjoy this cute story of how peer-to-peer mobility should not only be considered something for young hipsters with Smartphones.
We are looking for your stories! Do you know a cool initiative in your locality that you think contributes to a collaborative society based on fairness, openness and trust? Please send it to: info@sharitories.net
“Peer-to-peer”. What kind of people do you have in mind? You might think about young, technophiles, or maybe hipsters? But everyone can be a peer. In Flanders (Belgium), the organization that I have founded, Taxistop, enables a peer-to-peer transports service for people with reduced mobility, mainly elderly people. The service is carried out by voluntary drivers who are mainly elderly people too. Elderly-for-elderly.
I would like to share this story because too often only the most innovative, app-based initiatives are highlighted, and sometimes even smarter solutions stay under the radar.
30.000 members, with the average age of 80, enjoy this service in Belgium. They are not disabled, and cannot use services for disabled people. They are not able to take public transport anymore, nor use a bike. Transport for those ageing people, is not only useful, but a very crucial measure against social isolation. That’s why we also call it a social transport service.
If a member needs to go somewhere, to visit a friend, go to a shop, or whatever, she or he can contact a local dispatching point and ask a ride to one of the 3.000 volunteers, retired drivers. It’s a nation-wide service, with software and insurance offered by Taxistop, but it remains locally organized. Taxistop works together with the social service of the municipalities. Each local service creates own measures, recruits drivers, and promotes the concept in their neigbourhoods. The local dispatchers know the names and faces of the members and drivers. The highly personal service is a key strength, and represents the appropriate technology for this target group.
The service is not available for anyone. First of all, there must be a need. If you are healthy, and living close to a dense public transport network, then you have alternatives. The service is also limited to people with a monthly income not higher than 2x the Belgian living wage. People with a higher income can take a taxi, eventually supported with taxi vouchers. Furthermore, the local points can decide on more or less strict conditions.
The members are paying an annual membership. For every usage, they pay a fixed compensation to the driver, not higher than the official price per km in Belgium. This compensation also includes insurance. Some municipalities are paying the insurance for their users. Drivers aren’t making profit with it, but are doing it because they like driving and/or helping other people. They are using their spare time as idling capacity. The municipalities are paying a small fee to Taxistop, for the software and the coaching.
This social transport service is extremely cost-efficient for municipalities. Every year we register more than 300.000 rides in Belgium. The system is not directly subsidized, and financially sustainable for Taxistop, a non-profit organization, and operator of different ride-sharing and car-sharing projects in Belgium.
More info: French: http://www.centraledesmoinsmobiles.be Dutch: www.mindermobielencentrale.be or contact the author:
About the Contributor
Angelo Meuleman, is a OuiShare Connector for Flanders, and miner of idling capacity for Taxistop . As an expert in sharing and sustainable mobility he’s involved in different national and European projects with focus on ride-sharing and car-sharing, and member of the Flemish advisory board for transport.
Angelo Meuleman – ame@sharitories.net Facebook.com/angelomeuleman @angelo_meuleman
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