Parisian public transport company RATP has partnered with a tech firm on a mobile app which allows travellers to match up with others making similar journeys so they can avoid being targeted by criminals on public transit.
The app, called ‘Mon Chaperon’, or My Chaperone, has been available since December 2016 and allows users to meet up with others travelling along the same route.
Fabien Boyaval, the creator of the app, said: “I had this idea after one of my friends was assaulted in the street in Montpellier.”
The partnership comes among rising concern across Europe about the prevalence of No Go Zones, areas of lawlessness where outsiders are afraid to enter.
Merkel Admits ‘No-Go’ Zones Exist in Germany https://t.co/5Z4xKDb6u4
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 1, 2018
While Breitbart London’s Raheem Kassam documented their existence and the characteristics of these neighbourhoods across Europe and America in his 2017 book No Go Zones: How Sharia Law Is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You, others have since come to discover this new facet of life in Europe.
Breitbart London reported this week on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has belatedly admitted that No Go Zones do actually exist.
The app has so far only around 6,500 users, but the new partnership signed in mid-February with RATP could vastly increase its userbase, Gazette de Montpellier reports.
The app’s website describes the how the system works by matching up users based on their departure and destination points. The app also uses a rating system to ensure a user is matched up with a trustworthy fellow traveller.
If there are any problems, the traveller can use an emergency button which connects to the police and which also sends a text message displaying the user’s location to ‘trusted contacts’ such as family or friends.
Another feature the app offers is the ability for chaperones to charge a fee to the travellers to accompany them on their journey.
Paris Gets ‘No-Go-Zone’ Warning App https://t.co/VwBXlMxehB
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 29, 2017
Random acts of violence have been escalating dramatically all across France with some estimating there to be 777 violent attacks per day nationwide.
Violence on the Paris transportation system has also become a major issue. Earlier this year, Paris metro drivers said they would refuse to stop at certain stations due to the potential for violent attacks against RATP staff and passengers from criminals.
The app is likely also to compliment the “No-Go Zone” warning app that was released last summer that allows users to look at a map of the French capital and see reported crimes to avoid problem areas.
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