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Bout harnesses the potential of the Seine for the Paris Olympics

One of Bout’s boat operators, sailing down the Seine

 

Piloting in Paris

Just as the eyes of the world are set to turn upon the Seine for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Bout’s Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering has arrived in the city. “The Olympics will be bringing a lot of people here, so the transportation will be packed. Why not use the river to help people move around the city?” Terttunen asks, explaining, “That’s why we are here.”

For local service providers on the Seine, which represents a massive 80% of France’s passenger river traffic, the Olympics is an incredible opportunity, and Bout’s innovative way of bringing the public and waterways together made it a no-brainer for the Harbour Community of Paris.

In preparation for the influx into the city, the Harbour Community of Paris is experimenting with how Bout’s services can be applied to make the Seine part of the urban transportation mix. “We are developing more and more offers for individuals and for that you need ways to enable access to boats,” Olivier Jamey, the President of the Harbour Community of Paris explains.

As winners of EIT Urban Mobility’s SME Market Expansion Call, Bout received support to make their Parisian pilot a reality. Established to assist small businesses break into markets that have complex rules and regulations, often an overwhelming hurdle for startups and SMEs, the call links startups with local authorities and providers to jumpstart their solution. Bout co-founder Terttunen explains of the experience, “For a startup like Bout it gives us so many opportunities, and it gives us of course the financial resources, so we can develop the product further and test it in the live environment, so it’s been extremely positive…I would recommend other SMEs participate in the call because this helps the vision to come alive,” he says.

Bout COO and co-founder Teemu Terttunen shows the app’s interface
 
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