Connecting people and making it easier for everyone to commute are the objectives of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), proposed by Padam Mobility. To this extent, this mobility solution can alleviate the daily tasks that make up the mental workload.
According to Nicole Brais, a researcher at the University of Laval, Quebec, the mental load corresponds to “management, organisation and planning work that is at once intangible, unavoidable and constant” in order to manage domestic tasks. Thus, a real impact on daily life lies in the constancy of this burden.
The Mental Load Falls Mainly on Women
Women spend an average of almost 4 hours a day managing domestic tasks, and handle 71% of parental tasks in the household. These tasks can be directly linked to transportation: doing groceries, dropping off and picking up children at/from school, and all the small tasks of daily life.
DRT represents a simple and effective solution to reduce the weight of these daily tasks.
On the occasion of an experimentation of the La Saire TAD service in the Cotentin, a parent told us:I think I can speak for all the mothers in the room who no longer need to drop off their children at school, you have changed our lives in La Saire!
People with Reduced Mobility Also Face an Increased Mental Load in Their Daily Lives
In a world that sometimes seems to be designed by and for able-bodied people, finding suitable modes of transport can be particularly difficult for people with reduced mobility.
It is therefore important to take into account the specific needs of PRMs with, for instance, a door-to-door transport service that takes into account the time it requires to settle into adapted vehicles and the presence of specific equipment, if necessary. In addition, the accessibility of the transport offer involves the right to movement, and therefore to spontaneous movement. Getting to the city without having to plan one’s journey weeks in advance is undeniably a factor in alleviating the mental load for the PRM public.
The Paratransit solutions developed by Padam Mobility can be booked in real time, or in advance, in order to satisfy the desire and need for spontaneity in everyday life. They are configured to take care of each user according to the specificities of their mobility, and allow for flexible travel from address to address.
Solutions That Respond to the Problems of the 11 Million Caregivers in France, and in the World
Caregivers provide day-to-day support to a dependent relative. These situations often require constant travelling between health centres, the homes of the carers and the homes of their dependent relatives, for instance (as presented in this article). This context can lead to reliance on private means of travel, particularly in peri-urban and rural areas where fixed lines are more limited.
Padam Mobility’s solutions allow a caregiver to make a booking, and the caregiver can even receive specific notifications regarding the pick-up of their relative. These configurations facilitate the daily organisation of caregivers, by involving them intuitively in the movement of their dependent relatives.
In Rural and Peri-Urban Areas, a Mental Charge Is Hidden in the Day-To-Day Travel Needs of All
Inequality of access to city centres, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas, creates mental burdens for all types of population: young people without a car, parents who have to drop off their relatives and children, and elderly people who fear driving alone in private vehicles. All these constraints create anxiety and an insidious mental workload.
A mental pressure that DRT sometimes helps to reduce, as a high school student using the Résa’Tao DRT service in Orléans explained to us:At least (my parents) are not worried because they know that if I have a problem, I always have Résa’Tao.
What about the Driver’s Mental Load?
Commuting, including home-to-work mobility, is a mobility in which the mental load is hardly ever mentioned. However, mental workload and driving are directly linked, as the latter impacts on drivers’ concentration and increases risky driving behaviour. Driving and its constraints add to the already existing mental load. Academic studies have been conducted to scientifically measure the mental load of driving and how to limit it.
Artificial intelligence, which enables the optimisation of rides, plays a crucial role in easing the mental burden on professional drivers of DRT vehicles. Indeed, through an ergonomic interface, drivers are guided step by step and no longer have to worry about the route to follow or the passengers to pick up or drop off. For passengers, formerly car drivers, DRT also makes their daily lives easier by freeing them from the hassles frequently encountered on the road: congestion, accidents, parking, refuelling, etc.
This article was originally published by Padam Mobility.
