Reduced mobility transport in Bordeaux: airport and station

Catching a plane or a train when walking has become hard is rarely about the drive itself. It’s about both ends of it: the front step, the few metres to the car, the bags to load, then the car park to cross and the concourse to walk up to the check in desk. A car booked at the last minute handles the middle of the trip and leaves exactly those two ends out.

Bordeaux Privilège runs private transfers to Bordeaux-Mérignac airport and Saint-Jean station for passengers with reduced mobility, with door to door assistance: a driver booked ahead, who rings the bell, offers an arm as far as the car, loads the folding wheelchair or the walking frame, and walks you to the desk or to the station’s assistance point. The same driver from one end to the other. Every journey is quoted individually.

1. What we do, concretely
2. What we don’t do
3. How a transfer works
4. Where we go
5. Pricing, by quote only
6. Frequently asked questions

What we do, concretely

We currently run one type of journey only: the private transfer between an address and Bordeaux-Mérignac airport or Saint-Jean station, in either direction. It is meant first for people who can take a seat in a car, with or without help: older passengers, a leg in plaster, crutches, a walking stick, a walking frame, poor eyesight, fatigue, or simply walking that has become too much of an effort.

Door to door assistance

The driver parks as close to the entrance as he can, comes to fetch the passenger, offers his arm as far as the car and helps them sit down. There is no lifting and no medical handling: it is support, not care.

The departure, minus the tiring part

At the airport as at the station, most of the walking happens between the car park and the concourse. That is precisely the part we remove: drop off at the entrance, bags handled by the driver, and company as far as the check in desk or the station’s assistance point. On arrival it works the other way round: the driver waits inside and calls you, so nobody is searching for anybody across a concourse.

One useful clarification: assistance inside the terminal is a service run by the airport, separate from ours, and it cannot be booked through us. You request it from your airline when you buy the ticket, or 48 hours before departure at the latest. The meeting points are listed on Bordeaux Airport’s reduced mobility assistance page (in French). We take you as far as that point, and the airport takes over from there.

There is room for a folding wheelchair

A folding wheelchair, a walking frame, a pair of crutches or a rollator travel in the boot, loaded and unloaded by the driver. The car is a high seated SUV, easier to get into than a low one. A van is available when a companion and equipment travel together.

When the chair can’t be left behind: the accessible vehicle

When the passenger has to stay seated in their wheelchair for the journey, that takes a different kind of vehicle. On request, we arrange these transfers with an accessible vehicle, on one condition: that it is booked ahead. It is not the vehicle that goes out by default, its availability is checked on request, and the journey is quoted individually.

What we don’t do

Better written down in black and white than discovered over the phone, or worse, on the day of departure.

• For the time being, the airport and the station only. We do not cover journeys to an appointment, a consultation or a test, nor the trip home after a hospital stay.
• The accessible vehicle can’t be improvised. A journey with the chair strapped down is booked ahead, so that we have time to check an equipped vehicle is free. For a flight or a train, call as soon as the date is set.
• We don’t do stretcher transport, nor medical transport. A stretcher, a transfer between two hospital departments, medical supervision during the journey: that is an ambulance’s job, not ours.
• We don’t lift people. The driver offers an arm and steadies you, he doesn’t take your weight. If a transfer needs two people or a hoist, it has to be arranged through a care service.

If your journey is prescribed by a doctor and covered on that basis, the request goes through operators approved for that kind of prescription. The conditions are set out on the French health service’s transport costs page (in French). We are not part of that system.

How a transfer works

1. You call or write, and we ask a few specific questions. Can the passenger get into a car unaided? Are there steps outside the door? Is a wheelchair or a walking frame travelling too? Is someone coming along? How many bags? The answers decide which vehicle we send and how much time to allow.
2. We put together a quote, then confirm in writing the time, the exact address, the price and the name of the passenger.
3. On the day, the driver arrives early, parks as close as he can and comes to ring the bell. He doesn’t sit in the street sounding the horn.
4. On the way back from a trip, the driver follows the flight or the train and waits inside the terminal or the concourse.

Where we go

Bordeaux and the whole metropolitan area, including Mérignac, Pessac, Talence, Bègles, Le Bouscat, Bruges, Cenon, Lormont, Villenave-d’Ornon and Saint-Médard-en-Jalles. Further out, we run airport and station transfers from Arcachon Bay and the coast, Libourne, Langon, Bergerac, Périgueux and Sarlat.

Pricing is by quote only

A journey like this doesn’t come off a price list. The price depends on the distance, on which vehicle is needed and on the number of bags: two journeys that look alike on paper don’t run the same way. So we ask a few questions, then we put together a quote.

Door to door assistance, help getting in, handling the folding wheelchair or the walking frame and the presence of a companion are included in that price: they are not charged on top. The parking needed to walk you to the desk or to the station’s assistance point is included in the quote.

Fixed rate, confirmed in writing before the journey: no meter running in a traffic jam, no surge at busy times, no night supplement. Ask for a quote from the booking page, or call us.

Frequently asked questions

Do you take wheelchair users?

Yes in both cases, but not in the same vehicle. If the passenger can move onto a car seat with the driver’s help, the folding chair goes in the boot and it is an ordinary transfer. If they have to stay seated in their chair, it is the accessible vehicle: possible when booked ahead, once its availability has been checked, and quoted individually.

Will the driver come up to the flat?

Yes, when it is needed. If the passenger can’t come down on their own, the driver comes up, rings the bell and comes back down with them. Just tell us when you book, giving the entry code, the floor and whether there is a lift: that is what lets us allow the right amount of time.

What happens if the plane or the train is delayed?

The driver follows the flight or train number and shifts the pick up accordingly. There is nothing for you to do and nothing to call back about.

Can someone travel with the passenger?

Yes, at no extra cost, and it is often easier for everyone. Mention it when you book, along with the equipment travelling, so that we choose the right vehicle.

Can I book on behalf of someone else?

Yes. A relative or an organisation can book on the passenger’s behalf. We then confirm in writing to whoever booked, and we call the passenger before the journey if they would like that.

How far ahead should I book?

Allow at least a week, and book as soon as the date of your flight or your train is known. That is what lets us hold the right vehicle and the right driver, and organise the door to door assistance. A late request isn’t necessarily impossible, but it depends on what is free that day, and the accessible vehicle in particular can’t be found at short notice.

Got a situation you’re not sure about? Write to us from the contact page describing what you need. We’ll give you a straight answer, including when the answer is that we’re not the right people for it.