New app provides help for mobility challenged motorists at gas stations across the country.

With the number of full-service fueling stations having dwindled rapidly over the last two decades, drivers with disabilities have been finding it increasingly challenging to fuel their vehicles, especially during the colder winter months.

There is a solution however, and it’s called the Fuelservice app. Originally launched in the U.K., Fuelservice works by allowing mobility challenged drivers to contact participating gas stations via their smartphones and pre-arrange for help from attendants before they arrive on site.

The app was brought to Canada for a pilot test, as a result of the efforts of Barry Munro, Chief Development Officer, Canadian Spinal Research Organization (CSRO), along with Eddie Rice and the Canadian Coalition for Mobility Challenged Drivers. The pilot saw Fuelservice team up with participating Shell gas stations to provide attendant access for disabled motorists and proved highly successful.

According to Munro, around 10% of all motorists in Canada suffer from some form of physical disability and have to content with mobility challenges on a daily basis.

Today, Fuelservice has expanded from the nation’s three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and as of September, is available from coast to coast, providing disabled drivers with access to more than 1300 fueling stations.

Canada is the first region in North America to use the app, but Munro says it will be expanding into the U.S. providing mobility challenged motorists across North America with even greater access and assistance when it comes to fueling up their vehicles.

Additionally, in these uncertain times of COVID-19, an added benefit is that the app allows the driver to remain in their vehicle while the attendant fills it with fuel, ensuring social distance and helping to contain community spread of the coronavirus.