Containment and mobility: the smartphones have spoken

How have the movements of the French population reacted to the coronavirus? Studies on the subject have been multiplying for several weeks now, in an attempt to provide an answer with varying degrees of reliability and objectivity. The report recently published by Kisio - a subsidiary of Keolis - and Roland Berger has the merit of being based on a particularly meaningful indicator when it comes to monitoring populations as closely as possible: their smartphone. Drawing on GPS data d'one million usersThis barometer, entitled "Covid-19 - Containment and mobility provides a detailed overview of the migratory flows analysed from 1st February to 31st March.

As a result, travel would have fell by 80% since the presidential address on 12 March, prior to the confinement. While the fall is relatively uniform across the country, the Ile-de-France region has seen the sharpest drop (-83%). Another finding of the Kisio-Roland Berger study is the shift in population concentrations. Unsurprisingly stations and the main transport hubs have been relatively deserted, unlike the zones hospital and residential. The "Containment and Mobility" report also puts the drop in passenger numbers at 90%. major French stationsand 80% for airports. In the Ile-de-France public transport sector, the fall will reach 86%. At national level, public transport revenues could fall by between €1.8 and €2.6 billion in 2020, according to the report, which points to the following factors "sanitisation of travel on the ground and on board as one of the major challenges to reassure users and revive mobility after the crisis.