French Driving School Offers Spare Back Seats to People with Mobility Issues

CER is a French network of driving schools with more than 500 locations across the country. Each year, the company teaches more than 150,000 students how to drive in its fleet of 2,500 cars, which represents more than 4,000,0000 hours spent on the road.

But have you noticed that during a driving lesson, a car only has two people inside when it could carry up to five people ? That's a lot of wasted space.

That's why CER, with the help of advertising agency BETC Paris, came up with a creative solution named 'The Lost Ride'.

The company has decided to offer the seats at the back of its car for free during its lessons for people in need or with mobility issues. 'THE LOST RIDE' initiative consists of offering a free carpooling service to elderly people, people with reduced mobility or those who cannot afford public transport or a cab ride. And it has the double benefits of also teaching students how to be responsible and caring when driving others. Trips can be made for medical appointments, shopping, cultural outings, and such, with a flexibility that public transportation cannot offer.

As a major player in mobility, CER’s mission is to help people get around

'The Lost Ride' program began in February 2023 with a beta phase in 50 driving schools in the Paris metropole area to test the service: reception of the public, impact on driving classes and appointment scheduling. After encountering success in its first four weeks of implementation, the service was scaled to the rest of the network: 450 driving schools located in 17 major French cities. Today, an average of 400 lost rides are provided each week to people in need or with mobility issues and thousands of people have benefited from this carpooling service free of charge.

With this initiative, CER has created a new frictionless urban mobility service that allows people to travel for free without having to download an app or create an account while being environmentally-conscious and safe.

Also, Claude Kern, a member of parliament, has introduced a bill to the French Senate aiming to challenge the current regulatory environment and create a legal framework, especially around insurance, to help widespread these kinds of flexible mobility initiatives around the country.