New innovation provides wheelchair access to e-scooters

Micro-mobility has gained widespread utilisation and deployment across cities in Europe. Users can connect to and from different nodes of urban transport, providing greater accessibility to employment, education and leisure. Due to an innovation by Omni, a French start-up, this mode of transport may now be available to people who use wheelchairs through a universal attachment connecting wheelchairs to the scooters.

This wheelchair accessible innovation has already been piloted in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, providing an opportunity for wheelchair users in Paris to access the greater autonomy provided by the e-scooters. Tier Mobility, in partnership with Omni, are planning on launching this e-scooter innovation in other cities in France and across Europea.

The innovation was motivated through the discovery by TIER that one in 10 of its riders identify as having a disability. Furthermore, the current attachment to power wheelchairs is estimated to cost approximately 4,650 EUR, so access to the e-scooter attachment can be a more cost-effective way for wheelchair users to access the extra mobility afforded through micro-mobility and power-assisted wheelchairs.

The original article was posted on the Electrive website.