Driverless shuttle, “personal” handle to stand in the metro … How will the user of the future travel (not so distant)
After the empty oars of the confinements, the crowded aisles of National public transport meetings. Since Tuesday, Toulouse has hosted in its new Parc des Expos all that France has of decision-makers, manufacturers and start-ups in the field of public transport. After a nightmare health crisis for the sector, it is time for “resilience”, for the imagination. Witness the beehives on bicycles to park a lot of them in very little space, or even this hybrid tricycle powered by hydrogen.
But while strolling in the aisles, in the middle of the 200 exhibitors, it must be noted that the Covid-19 theme trusts the novelties: virucidal paint for the bars of the tram or the metro, virucidal fabric also for the seats, virus-killing filters for the air of the trains… There is even a super design alarm button, which you do not really touch to give the alert since it is a hologram. What to make you want emergency braking, just for the technological kif. Among all these innovations that users will soon experience, 20 minutes has selected three waiting to be able to taste Toulouse soon.
The shuttle (really) without a driver
Autonomous minibus projects for short journeys, without a steering wheel and therefore without a driver, are multiplying. But in this area, it is the EZ10 shuttle from Toulousain EasyMile that has a head start. It has already been circulating on an experimental basis since the beginning of the year on the 600 meters which separate the University Cancer Institute, at the Oncopole, from its visitor parking lot, 600 meters from the entrance. But with a “security operator” on board, who does not drive but supervises and reassures a bit like an elevator of yesteryear in an elevator. But this occasional driver gets off the bus at the end of the year. And, for the first time in France, public transport will really run on an ordinary public road without a driver. “This will not be authorized in France until September 2022 but we have obtained an exceptional authorization from the Ministry of Transport”, announces EasyMile. The shuttle will be directed from outside.
The personal handle so you don’t touch anything
Those obsessed with cleanliness were the first to dream of it, and everyone got up to speed. The OOKKIT handle, in progress, came out of the imagination of an Alstom engineer – the supplier of the third metro line – at the very beginning of the health crisis. It’s personal, soft, made from bio-based materials and light enough to slip into your purse or satchel. And indicated that the posts and bars of your bus or train are equipped with its “matrix” – a small metal element just screwed on the bar – you can clip it and tie yourself to it during the entire journey. Without touching anything other than your own handle, before putting it back in your bag.
“Open payment”, directly with your bank card
Get on a bus in the open, without looking for a cash machine nearby, without disturbing the driver. Just by paying without contact with your bank card. This “safe” “open payment” validation method, called Sesame and proposed by the urban mobility specialist Flowibrd, was chosen by Tisséo. After an experimentation phase next year on the Airport Shuttle, its deployment is scheduled for 2023 across the entire Tisséo network. The operator promises the payment will be smart at the adapter point the rates charged to recent trips and therefore to the user’s consumption.