OuiHop' reinvents urban hitchhiking

Every day in France, millions of motorists drive alone in their cars. At the same time, there are millions of public transport users who could optimise their journeys and save time. But until now, there has been no simple carpooling solution for short distances. Now it's done: OuiHop' reinvents urban hitchhiking!

 

Ah! that good old hitchhiking, iconic transport of the hippie culture of the seventies! We thought it was dethroned by carpooling and its constellation of statues, and now it's back in town with a new digital application: OuiHop', launched in October 2015 by Jean-Baptiste Boneu, Laurent Maghdissian and Franck Rougeau. (1) . In concrete terms, this application connects pedestrians with passing motorists in the same direction with confidence and without planning.

Sharing everyday journeys has never been easier! Today's "traveller" is looking for a return to the human values of mutual aid and sharing, in a world that is too individualistic, while minimizing his travel costs and his ecological footprint. OuiHop' wants to create a real win-win relationship between motorists and pedestrians.

On the driver's side, registration is free and they accumulate points to be exchanged with OuiHop' partners to obtain discount coupons, fuel vouchers, gifts, lottery tickets. On the pedestrian side, it is a fast and efficient solution, complementary to public transport, to travel short distances.

 

This innovation is far from going unnoticed! With its real-time mobility service dedicated to the first and last kilometre around a public transport station, OuiHop' has made official three partnerships with the public transport players in the Île-de-France region: the Société du Grand Paris, STIF and RATP.

At the same time, to enable all pedestrians to discover this new collaborative mode of transport, OuiHop' announces the free service for cardholders of the Navigo pass from July 3 to August 31, 2017.

 

OuiHop' is an application that connects in real time pedestrians and motorists going in the same direction at the same time. It is therefore suitable for short distances and in particular for journeys from the station to work or from home to the station.

Thanks to this innovative collaborative transport service, OuiHop' is formalizing three partnerships with public transport players in Île-de-France :

- Partnership between Société du Grand Paris and STIF OuiHop' is the winner of the Call for New Innovative Mobility Projects organised by the Société du Grand Paris and STIF. Its real-time mobility service will be tested at Antonypôle, a dynamic business park where there are many journeys between neighbouring RER stations and workplaces.

- RATP partnership On the occasion of the closure of RER A for works between Nation and La Défense, OuiHop' is being proposed as an alternative mobility solution for RATP users.

These partnerships are a further step towards multi-modal car-pooling.

As part of these partnerships, and to go even further towards multi-modality, OuiHop' is offering its service free of charge to holders of the Navigo pass or the Imagin'Air card valid from 3 July 2017 and for the whole summer.

 

By integrating its dynamic short-distance carpooling network into the network accessible with the Navigo pass, OuiHop' aims to :

- encourage users to try out multimodal carpooling-public transport journeys at no extra cost ;

- show that the private car can become a real mode of public transport, complementary to traditional networks by providing capillary and fluid transport beyond the stations.

Available in the Paris region and in Montreal, OuiHop' has seduced more than 35,000 users in less than two years who are looking for a trusted solution to facilitate their daily or occasional trips.

Franck Rougeau, co-founder of OuiHop', emphasizes that " Thanks to geolocation, our application is 100% instantaneous! The setting in relationship between motorists and pedestrians is made without reservation, in the time it takes (OuiHop' integrates the Waze application), in a very simple way. It is also s, including the notification and verification of contact information for members, so that the community can use it with confidence. »

 

The operation of the application emphasizes mutual aid and sharing so that everyone wins:

- For 2 euros per month for a 30-day unlimited pass, pedestrians can use the service for unlimited travel without paying any additional fees. They are also free to choose their preferred route and driver.

- motorists register free of charge and accumulate Hopiz (virtual currency) that can be converted into discount coupons, fuel vouchers, gifts and lottery tickets. To avoid distractions on the road, the app already minimizes the interactions required from the driver and, very soon, all notifications will be relayed in audio.

Laurent Maghdissian, co-founder of OuiHop,' says: " OuiHop' complements public transport to bring a response to the management of the first and last km to and from stations. »

 

Hitchhiking as a free or convenient means of transport is now being replaced by a digitized service... and merchant. A participatory concept, certainly, very practical and where the smartphone serves as an intermediary between a pedestrian who makes a reservation for a car that passes in front of him and his driver ... or how to make something new with the old!           

 

An app available on all smartphones:

OuiHop' can be downloaded :

- on the AppStore : https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/ouihop-covoiturageurbain/ id1039691275?mt=8

- on GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.s2c.smartautostop

- on WindowsPhone : https://www.microsoft.com/fr-fr/store/p/ouihop/9nblggh4nq2j

 

 

(1) Jean-Baptiste Boneu is a graduate of ESCP and also holds a double MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow, India). Jean-Baptiste has successively held several positions in strategy, business development/marketing and finance at Ernst&Young, Greenovia or at ADEME within the Investment Department of Avenir.

Laurent Maghdissian is a graduate of ENS Cachan and Ponts & Chaussées. He worked for 8 years at Alstom Power as an R&D Researcher and then Project Manager.

Frank Rougeau is a graduate of Supélec and also holds a double MS degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, USA). After 10 years spent developing the international business of major telecom equipment manufacturers (Philips, Lucent, Nortel Networks) Franck created and managed several companies in different fields; Netova, Sparkom and Get.

 

www.ouihop.com