Foreign people
In the context of INDIMO the term foreign people includes people who settle in a host country that differs from their home country especially from the linguistic and cultural point of view. As for ethnic minorities, foreign people’s cultural identity is an important factor influencing individual needs, travel choices, and travel distance.
For this group the main barrier to the use of digital (and non-digital) mobility services is represented by local language proficiency, excluding them from the related benefits and from participating in the local decision-making processes. Another barrier is the lack of access to online banking services due to the large amount of documentation required in most European countries. Such documentation hard to obtain both from host countries and from the countries of origin, preventing access to the digital payment options.
For the same reason foreigners with lower economic conditions can hardly afford to rent or buy houses in central or connected areas and encounter difficulties with the bureaucracy and contracts. Therefore, they often live in poorly served suburbs, both in terms of public transport and digital connectivity.
It has been observed that foreign people, especially migrants who have recently settled in a host country, are more likely to commute, walk and cycle compared to locals of the same age and broadly use digital technologies which allow them to keep social connections with their families and peers. Finally, it is worth mentioning the fact that care-givers often belong to this group, resulting in very specific mobility patterns and needs.
Understanding travel behaviour and use of digital mobility apps across different cultural groups is paramount to ensure solutions are designed to fit their needs.
References:
https://publications.iom.int/books/international-migration-law-ndeg34-glossary-migration
(UN DESA, Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration, Revision 1 (1998) para. 32) https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/seriesm/seriesm_58rev1e.pdf
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_statistics
