Exploring the MADRID pilot, INDIMO is trying to improve inclusivity of Food Delivery Services, especially in times of Covid-19. Food delivery service providers are trying to meet the needs of socially isolated people, temporary COVID-19 confined people or people who for any reason already encountered barriers before the pandemics hit.

In the recent years, digital technology and mobile apps allowed for a higher integration across mobility and logistics, resulting in the emergence of a wide array of customized, on-demand services. Despite the success of such services, there are new issues to consider:

• Who’s left behind?
• Are there people who cannot access these services because the digital skills required are not inclusive?
• Are services too expensive for lower income people?
• Are there people who can’t access services due to low readability of texts on small screens?

The disruption of the COVID-19 pandemics has remarked more than ever the daily issues of a large number of vulnerable people to access new digital mobility services. The INDIMO project core objective is that of extending the potential benefits of digital services to those groups that currently face barriers to access them. From a more human-centred perspective, ideally all people should  feel included while using these services, regardless of their condition. To this end, one of the documents delivered in the INDIMO Digital Mobility Toolbox will be a Universal Design manual. The manual will offer guidance for the inclusive design of mobility and delivery digital services, considering the needs of vulnerable-to-exclusion people. It will be conceived by end-users teamed up in workshops with developers, stakeholders, experts in social studies and policy makers.

The MADRID pilot: first insights from interviews with vulnerable users

In this context, the Madrid Pilot deals with the food delivery service provided through the cooperative platform La Pajara.coopcycle.  Its objective is to understand feelings, limitations and perceived potential of such service among specific vulnerable-to-exclusion groups. This pilot focuses on the needs of lower-income people, impaired people with reduced vision and mobility, non-connected and socially isolated people (condition exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemics allowing for reduced or zero daily trips). To this end, between September and October 2020, a qualitative survey has been deployed through semi-structured interviews among users and non-users. Meanwhile the local Community of learning by Practices was  launched  and started its online meetings to enable direct  understanding of the unsatisfied needs of vulnerable users by all stakeholders involved (i.e. developers, policy makers and delivery service providers.

During the COVID19, the everyday needs of lower income, socially isolated and impaired people became harsher.  Especially regarding provision of food and other essential goods, complexity increased: the lockdown imposed social distancing, and with it the subsequent restrictions on collective and individual mobility. For example, minimizing contacts with family and friends implied a reduced assistance to thepeople with vision and mobility impairments. Also, it is worth to mention the mutual lack of emotional support.

In this context, La Pajara.coopcycle delivery food service has the potential of improving the quality of life of these people by facilitating their access to healthy food on-demand, while also ensuring safety measures against the virus spread. The first question that arose since the beginning was how familiar these groups were with mobile apps and what factors were keeping them away from exploring food delivery options.

Perception of digital delivery services by impaired people

From interviews analysed so far, respondents from different groups have shown strong variability in their answers. The pursuit for autonomy is a common theme for the physically and visually impaired. Visually impaired people, for instance, recognized that COVID crisis made their personal autonomy worse. As an example, when entering any shop they needed to ask for support to meet the social distancing requirements. People with reduced mobility also expressed the relevance of full autonomy, as a mean of personal realization and feeling of overcoming adversity. All people experiencing the above issues may consider the food delivery services as an alternative assistance that undermines their ability to do things by themselves. Situated on a different spot, the COVID-confined segment appreciated the possibility of receiving help with the shopping, as many of them already phased in similar services before the pandemics (not necessarily digital purchases, rather asking store employees to deliver their shopping bags home). This opens a singular opportunity for new inclusive approaches where the digital delivery services (DDS) may play a significant role.

Quote #1: “My couple went shopping for me during COVID lockdown, I would have taken longer. It would have been difficult to maintain safety distances and so on” –  Carmen (fictitious name), impaired person with reduced vision, Non-user, age 42 –

A focus on COVID-19 confined people

Going back to the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemics in europe, we can’t avoid recalling the great uncertainty that surrounded the issue, the lack of information and the misleading data that circulated in the public opinion. Since disorientation was tangible at that moment, the responses collected in our interviews to the availability of DDS were also diverse and contradictory.  Some respondents in our study recognized DDS as essential during COVID-19 lockdown. Others admitted that, because of the restrictions to individual mobility, they increased their online purchases.

For many people, ordering food increased the overall amount of digital orders. Few others mentioned the potential use of DDS as couriers to receive items from relatives who responsibly tried to avoid contacts. Nevertheless, other respondents explained that during forced lockdowns they had more spare time to devote to cooking while also being more worried about personal economic stability. The two combined factors led them to prepare their own meals instead of ordering them. Also, from the perspective of goods purchase, for some respondents the DDS  mitigated the risks related with contacting the virus in the premises and lines of a supermarket. For  others a similar issue was related with  the hygiene conditions of the products delivered by DDS. Several respondents were worried about the health of the riders and were inclined to minimize the use of DDS to prevent them going around cities in such harsh times.

In conclusion, COVID-19 lockdowns have been both a cause for an increased and decreased use of food delivery platforms. Such figure characterises very well the diversity of responses concerning the use of DDS in times of COVID-19.

Quote #2 “The first attitude is `This is out of my reach’. Many of them have spare time and do not have money. These apps tend to be useful for people that have money and lack time” – Nuria, Stakeholder working closely with women living in unwanted loneliness conditions.

Barriers to the use of digital applications for food delivery

There is another group of respondents for which ordering food through an app is “out of question”, meaning that they do not even figure the possibility of using such a service. Respondents selected among the lower income people, for example, declared that even though they could understand the benefits of delivery in times of pandemics, they associate the whole DDS with expensive products out of their reach. Older people instead declared they had problems with novelty: they do not trust food they haven’t tasted before because of their health and nourishment requirements, and they rely very much on the word-of-mouth before trying new services. Also digital skills issues should be tackled with care: the elderly and the disconnected people array of skills are limited to those apps they already use with their relatives (mainly Whatsapp) and this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are willing to explore new tools and digital opportunities. Food delivery services platforms aiming at inclusivity need to deal with these barriers. A solution is to design and propose alternative digital and analogical channels to reach out for all otherwise excluded people. The INDIMO project Toolbox will definitely be a major supporting instrument to address their unmet needs.

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Women on the move: empowered by new mobility options. This is what emerged during a first informal online chatter among Michelle Spektor and Floridea di Ciommo, the two INDIMO pilot site leaders (Galilee and Madrid) dealing especially with gender issues in daily transport choices.

Mobility is key in our contemporary lives in order to participate in all kinds of activities and to ensure basic needs and beyond. Female mobility has different characteristics, patterns, and behaviors since gender and cultural background strongly affect mobility choices. Using an intersectional approach in transport research, especially focusing on gender, ethnicity, and employment status, pose possible insights for policy makers and software developers.

The project INDIMO aims to provide a Universal Design Manual of digital interfaces and tools taking into consideration socially excluded user needs, including ecosystem contributions from developers of digital mobility and delivery apps, human factors experts, and policy makers.

In the Galilee Pilot context, Arab women suffer from a trifold discrimination: as Arabs in Israel, as women in a traditional society, and as residents in rural villages and towns lacking sufficient public transport infrastructure. Aiming to overcome gender and cultural mobility barriers and allow Arab women greater accessibility to work, study and social activities a new informal Ride-Sharing App named Safarcon was developed with the support of the Israel chief scientist Office of the Ministry of Transport.

Addressing various aspects of transport poverty in the Arab society in general, and of women among their traditional culture, this Informal Ride-Sharing App is designed to enable Arab women greater mobility possibilities and mitigate the consequences of a poor public transport systems in such areas.

The Galilee pilot fieldwork aims at generating insights by interviewing Arab women and therefore improving digital mobility services taking into consideration their specific cultural and gender needs, in addition to the more generic safety considerations when traveling alone.

Looking forward, successful pilot projects such as the one established by INDIMO have the power to foster an inclusive change that will serve Arab women. Women on the move empowerment is not only linked to broader mobility options but more importantly linked to wider academic, employment and lifestyle opportunities.

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sources:

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/uber-for-arab-women-new-ride-sharing-app-to-increase-access-to-job-market-582510

http://www.transportation.org.il/sites/default/files/pirsum/mobility05final_0.pdf

Di Ciommo, F., Magrinya, F., Rondinella, G., & Shiftan, Y. (2019). A behavioral framework for needs-based transport assessment. In Measuring Transport Equity (pp. 265-275). Elsevier.

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INDIMO’s Berlin pilot, led by door2door, works to create a world where mobility services fit people’s lives.

door2door is a leader in on-demand ridepooling technologies, providing a white-label software platform to public transport operators and mobility providers that is dynamic, efficient, and affordable.

“On-demand ridepooling means that the service works based on the demand of  passengers, bundling real-time trip request in the most efficient and sustainable way possible.” explains Thais Lamoza, business developer at door2door. “Practically this means that, as a customer, I can easily book a ride through our multimodal passenger app and this ride can be shared with other people that have a similar destination”.

credits: door2door

The public space should be for people and not for cars

Moved by a “people first” vision, door2door aims at complementing public transport by closing the gaps in the existing network. Creating digital, flexible, and efficient mobility offers that encourage people to stop using their private cars. Ridepooling services are particularly important for those who have limited access to mobility alternatives, be it because of their personal condition (for example having a disability or being from a lower economical background), or because of the gaps in transport networks. door2door services can bridge these inequalities and allow everyone to have equal access to transport opportunities.

Every context is different

The creation of sustainable, flexible, and durable mobility services needs to be based on local requirements and desires. “To implement new services it is very important to collaborate with all stakeholders involved: cities, local authorities, companies or public transport operators. This collaboration is crucial for us as each place has its own characteristics: population, geography and transport infrastructure, for example”. Thais highlights that a close cooperation is the only way to achieve a successful long-term operation. door2door’s services are tailored to the specificities of each context and their customers are very diverse cities that can go from small towns in rural areas to big cities.

A pilot focused on women

Within INDIMO, door2door will conduct a field test with end-users in Berlin. This pilot will focus on the user experience with ridepooling of women with children, who have limited mobility options and lack of digital skills, despite having access to smartphones.

The tests will unroll in three phases. Firstly, the pilot will analyse the user experience on site, trying to understand all steps of the user experience when taking a ride (booking, traveling, payment procedures, etc.). The results of this assessment will be further evaluated and re-designed together with designers, developers and other INDIMO partners, with the objective of improving the Universal Design of the services. Lastly, the lessons learnt will be implemented and the effect of the adjustments will be evaluated.

Fortunately, the pilot team members will not be developing through a long process alone: they will directly involve end-users!

One key aspect of the INDIMO project is co-creation, which means involving the end-users in the process of creating or redesigning digital mobility services, considering their needs and expectations from the start. To this aim, a Community of Practice (CoP) will be set up in Berlin: together with a group of women with children who live in the Berlin district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, activists, local policy-makers, mobility experts and other digital mobility solution providers, the pilot seeks to understand their challenges and how their daily mobility experience can be improved.

“Our objective is not only to develop a better product but also to improve awareness and sensitivity in regard to accessibility”

By participating in INDIMO, door2door seeks to improve their expertise and include accessibility questions in all their processes. “We would like to bring an accessibility awareness throughout all stages of creation and development of our service”. Moreover, Thais expects to achieve impact on the local mobility of their pilot, where the discussions of the CoP can be the start for a change in the mobility of women in Marzahn-Hellersdorf district and the results can be picked-up by local policy makers to promote change.

Mobility shouldn’t be a daily struggle

If she could change just one thing in mobility, Thais would make it available for everyone: “I see mobility as a right: everyone should be able to move as they wish and/or need, but this is not a reality for many people. If I could change an aspect in mobility, I wish it were not the daily struggle that it is actually for many people. And that they could exercise this right through transport services and infrastructure that serves people and not the other way around.”

For many, mobility is not a right, but a daily struggle. INDIMO will work to bridge this gap, allowing more and more people to participate effectively in social life, by improving their mobility options.

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