The French sub study evaluated the accessibility of public transport for people with cognitive impairments with the aim of improving the mobility of this user group. The French sub study was split into six stages:

• Stage One – Research Study One - Stage One was a series of observational studies involving respondents with learning disabilities travelling on two round trips using public transport. The aim was to identify the problems encountered by people with cognitive impairments when using public transport.

• Stage Two – Research Study Two - The second phase of the Sub-Study involved an ethological approach and individualised interviews, this investigated the motivation and strategies of travel in workers with cognitive disabilities.

• Stage Three – Research Study Three - Due to the findings of the previous two studies, Stage Three was carried out to investigate the effect of the entire environmental context, with particular emphasis on how travellers with disabilities cope with connecting transport modes, thus making a change from one mode of transport to another.

• Stage Four – MAPLE State of Art - A list of public authorities was collated as an overall state of art review for MAPLE but each partner city reviewed its own country and divided their list into the 5 categories: Government authority, Local authority, Special Interest Organisations, Transport operators or Trainers/ Consultants. This enabled France to identify a number of authorities or interest groups that are unique to their own country. More information on these authorities and organisational groups can be found in the National Report for France - Can people with cognititive impairments use public transport effectively.

• Stage Six – Telephone and Email Survey - Stage Six in the case of France was the same as other countries Stage Two of their Sub-Study. The aim of this stage was to conduct a national telephone survey to find out what measures are taken by each organisations to make it possible for people with cognitive impairments or learning disabilities to travel. For practical reasons the French partner was unable to train individuals for telephones interviews so this research was carried out by calling the authority or organisation to explain the research, following immediately by the questionnaire via e-mail for them to complete. More information on this can be found in the National Report for France - Can people with cognititive impairments use public transport effectively.