What is the new mobility card launched by Freenow?
Benjamin Giovanni - The mobility card is linked to the Mobility Budgetlaunched last year. In other words, an allowance granted by the company to its employees, often on a monthly basis, for personal mobility or for commuting between home and the office. Companies can thus offer mobility to their employees as a new way of attracting and retaining talent, in the same way as they can with luncheon vouchers or access to a sports hall. Users can track their budget via the application. So we are now launching the mobility cardwhich is a new payment method for users of the Mobility Budget. This is a prepaid virtual cardIt can be used both within the Freenow application and outside our tool. For example, users can use it for a taxi outside the Freenow network, in a region that we do not cover, or for a rental cara train ticket oraircraftor public transport. What we really wanted was to cover public transport. And as technologically this is taking a little longer than expected, we are responding to this need with the mobility card. This gives employees more possibilities, not only in France but also abroad, all over the world. Which makes this mobility advantage even more attractive.
Can the card also be used at Freenow's competitors?
Benjamin Giovanni - Of course it is. The important thing for us is to offer mobility that goes beyond the vehicles we offer and the geographical areas we cover. It's for the benefit of the users, and therefore the companies, and it's part of a virtuous circle.
Are there any constraints, for example limiting the choice to soft mobility?
Benjamin Giovanni - No, not necessarily: we leave it up to the employer to choose whether or not to tick the authorised supplier codes. But by default, the card is compatible with all forms of mobility, including air travel. If the employer wants this tool to be part of the sustainable mobility package, he or she can make the appropriate restrictions.
Is this card aimed primarily at key accounts?
Benjamin Giovanni - Not necessarily. As it's a benefit in kind, the virtual card is aimed above all at companies that have real challenges in retaining or attracting talent, for example tech companies, which are in very penurious professions where you have to stand out from the crowd. We feel there is a real interest, because it meets CSR challenges, innovation challenges, well-being in the workplace, etc.
You have now had six months to look back on the launch of your taxis in Paris. How would you assess this new service? How are business customers responding?
Benjamin Giovanni - We introduced taxis in Paris last June. The results have been extremely satisfactory, exceeding our expectations by attracting more drivers than expected. It was a real challenge to launch taxis on an application known for VTC in France. Freenow is Europe's leading taxi service, but the French didn't necessarily know that. So we had to make sure that drivers understood that Freenow is a taxi expert, that there is healthy competition between VTC and taxi activities, that we were going to bring them our three million users in France, and that there were very positive synergies between the two businesses. But it was a challenge when you think of the outcry from taxis 13 years ago at the start of VTC... We've been very pleasantly surprised by the way attitudes have changed. Today we have more than 5,500 registered drivers, including more than 1,500 active ones. And passengers have also welcomed it, especially 'professional' customers, because it was something they really wanted. In fact, most of these customers had already kept their taxis, because they have slightly different needs.
Do you already have a timetable for launching taxis in other French cities?
Benjamin Giovanni - No, first we want to establish our taxi expertise in Paris. Then we'll look at other cities.
How far have you got with theintegration of public transport in France in the Freenow application?
Benjamin Giovanni - It's a fine objective that we set ourselves some time ago. The discussions started at least a year ago. What's holding up the entry of public transport is above all the development, the technical side, the API issues. This is a real objective for us, because to be a real MaaS platform we need to cover public transport. The Virtual Mobility Card will now enable us to meet this need, but we'd really like to have it as a fully-fledged part of the application. I hope that this will happen in the during 2023. But we've already put it off for so long, and the discussions are so lengthy, that I'd rather not give a precise date today!
What is the scale of the project? Will it be launched in Paris? In several major French cities?
Benjamin Giovanni - Unfortunately, technically, it's a case of city by city. We're having discussions with the various players, and unfortunately it can't be a one-size-fits-all solution, as each one has its own specificities. Our priority is Paris, because that's where the vast majority of our users are. But if it's technically quicker to launch first in Lyon or Marseille, we'd start there.
The Transport Minister recently spoke of a single travel pass: this could be a game-changer...
Benjamin Giovanni - Clearly, yes! There is now a technical dependency. In Lyon or London, for example, you can pay directly with your phone or with a contactless credit card. This is not possible in Paris. If there's a common technology for all the cities in France, we'll just have to integrate it into our application and that'll be that.
In that case, you would have worked for nothing?
Benjamin Giovanni - Unfortunately, these are all bets! Sometimes technology moves faster than the developments we can make in-house...
Once public transport has been integrated, will the construction of the Freenow 'super-app' be completed? Or are you still thinking of diversifying?
Benjamin Giovanni - I think we can still diversify. There have been discussions about long-term leasing, for example, and why not, in the long term, offer train or even air travel in an ideal world? Anything to do with mobility could make sense in the application. We now have a shortcut to these means of transport via our virtual map, and we keep these projects in the back of our minds, but they come fourth or fifth on our list of priorities! A true MaaS platform covers all possible forms of mobility. By the time you open your Freenow application to go to Los AngelesBut we're not stopping at anything!
What are your plans for mobility, particularly for business customers?
Benjamin Giovanni - Even more diversified. We saw that 10% of our multi-mobility journeys were made by BtoB customers. Micro-mobility is therefore a growing post-Covid trend. There is a habit of personal use that has been passed on to professional use. teleworking. This multi-mobility trend is on the increase among professionals, with more and more employees travelling to customer meetings by electric bike. And the trend is set to continue. There's also the CSR trend in general, which companies are really pushing, and which is a real criterion for choosing suppliers today. I think we're going to see continued growth in this area. return from business trip. Even if it's not the same as pre-Covid, because there's less travel and there are more appointments on Zoom, I still think we're slowly returning to pre-Covid levels.
