Voi partners with Open Inclusion to improve usability and accessibility for everyone

Making micro-mobility as inclusive and accessible as possible for all is part of Voi’s mission. To ensure everyone’s needs are taken into account in the design and development of our products and services, we have decided to team up with Open Inclusion – a London-based accessibility consultancy for inclusive research, user insight and service design solutions. 

Open Inclusion has a UK wide panel of more than 500 people, including those who are deaf or have hearing loss; blind or partially sighted; neurodiverse; mobility or dexterity impaired; above or below average height; colour-blind; and/or over the age of 65.

With Open Inclusion’s support, Voi aims to establish and adopt a pan-disability and age-inclusive approach into our operations to make micro-mobility more convenient and safer for everyone. We believe that Open Inclusion’s diverse insight community will provide us with valuable perspectives and guidance to inform business decisions. These insights specifically consider the 1 in 5 (22%) of adults in the UK who identify as disabled, as well as younger people who have temporary injuries, illness or additional considerations. In the growing population of people aged over 65, almost half (46%) have disabilities, and many don’t identify as disabled but have increasing age-related needs to consider.

Richard Corbett, General Manager, U.K., Ireland, and Benelux, at Voi, said:
“We believe that micro-mobility is for everyone. As we continue to grow our operations in the U.K., we want to ensure the service is as inclusive as possible to make riding and parking safer for all road users and pedestrians. By working with Open Inclusion, we are moving towards a truly pan-disability approach to micro-mobility from the ground up. With the breadth of its panel and agile model of working in high-growth, fast-paced industries such as ours, Open Inclusion is the right organisation to help us achieve our goals, so we can make an immediate impact.” 

According to Christine Hemphill, Managing Director of Open Inclusion:
“It is great to work with Voi, a leading innovative organisation that understands the value and importance of diverse community engagement to improve their market entry strategy and offering. We look forward to engaging with their team and across our community of disabled and older co-creators to ensure that designs are more usable and delightful for a wider rider base, as well as supportive of the needs of all pedestrians, including those with lived experiences of disability.”

Our partnership with Open Inclusion is the newest push to champion inclusivity and accessibility in the UK. Previously, we announced a working relationship  with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to better understand the needs of blind and partially sighted pedestrians. We are currently working on implementing the RNIB’s insights to make the e-scooter pilot programs safer for pedestrians with sight loss. Recommendations focus on key elements, such as parking, rider education and training, e-scooter sound alerts, and ensuring e-scooters are kept off pavements and pedestrianised areas.

In early February, we also unveiled a collaboration with Klaxon Mobility to integrate its wheelchair-accessible electric handbike into our fleet of shared micro-mobility offerings.