With Andyamo, inclusive mobility becomes a reality

“La Fête des Lumières”, a Festival of Lights accessible for all Lyon residents

The city of Lyon aims to promote inclusion both in daily life and during major events. In 2023, for example, the municipality decided to make the Festival of Lights, a major December highlight in the city, accessible to all, particularly children and wheelchair users.

To respond to this need, Keolis Lyon, along with Hove (Keolis’ subsidiary specializing in digital tools), teamed up with Grenoble-based startup Andyamo in January 2023. The aim was to deploy Andyamo’s digital mapping solution on the Lyon transport network’s (TCL) website and application to offer accessible trips to people with reduced mobility. More broadly, they sought to provide accessible options for all individuals with transport challenges, notably by suggesting accessible and practical trips for the entire scope of the festivities, to ensure the best possible multimodal journey without interruption. The target audience therefore includes people with motor disabilities, families with small children and strollers, seniors and people with mobility difficulties (such as those using crutches).

The project kicked off on December 7, the start of the four-day Festival of Lights.

A digital solution for inclusive mobility

Andyamo’s approach is pragmatic: instead of creating a new GPS app for people with reduced mobility, the company enhanced existing solutions with additional features. Andyamo’s “plug-in” approach has proven effective in Lyon’s TCL network, as well as in Grenoble and Toulouse.

Specifically, the trip planner on the TCL Lyon website and app now includes an “Accessible for people with reduced mobility” option, which can be selected to filter results accordingly. The calculator will then suggest routes with buses that have access ramps and stops designed for easy boarding and exiting. It also suggests pedestrian routes with lowered crossings, wide sidewalks, smooth surfaces (without cobblestones) and no fixed obstacles. This gives people with reduced mobility greater independence in their travels.

A trip planner that accounts for temporary road closures

Andyamo’s solution, deployed for the 2023 Festival of Lights, covered the entire Lyon peninsula, known as “greater downtown.” The pedestrian access map created for the occasion and integrated into the trip planner accounted for all streets closed to traffic during the event. There are ongoing discussions to expand the app’s coverage area. The challenge, of course, is to keep the information updated in real time so as to offer trips that are always up to date (as road access changes quickly and new obstacles can arise).

This trial in Lyon, as well as the technical experience acquired by Hove-Andyamo, aims to inspire similar developments in other networks and regions.