Transports
Mobility: with Mappy, the RATP wants to compete with Google Maps and Waze
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| Mobility: with Mappy, the RATP wants to compete with Google Maps and Waze |
By buying Mappy, RATP is showing its ambition to become a benchmark player in “mobility on demand” in a market dominated by giants like Google.
After the SNCF “Assistant”, it is RATP’s turn to want to offer its customers a mobility “companion” from 2021 that allows them to choose journeys by metro, RER, private car or scooter. Announced this Monday, November 2 – for an undisclosed amount – the purchase of the Mappy browser from the SoLocal group, publisher of the Yellow Pages, is a first step and aims to strengthen its subsidiary, RATP Smart Systems. For Hiba Farès, director in charge of customer experience, services and marketing, it is about “being the benchmark partner of” smart cities‘‘.
The two companies promise to combine their services in the same application and include the possibility of booking and paying, directly from a mobile phone, for journeys.
In Île-de-France, the RATP group’s digital services will include, in particular, a complete mapping of the region, a pedestrian and bicycle GPS as well as the addresses of professionals. It will also be possible to book and pay for trips there. The group will then be able to offer this turnkey mobility solution to other cities and regions. Mappy claims 12 million unique visitors per month against 8 million for the RATP app.
Admittedly, this announcement may seem a little offbeat, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis which sees travel and transport rhythms disrupted with the ban on travel between regions since October 29.
