Innovations

Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Code

PTA.1

Title

Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Case study/reference

Sochor, J.L., Strömberg, H. & Karlsson, M. (2014). Travelers’ Motives for Adopting a New, Innovative Travel Service: Insights from the UbiGo Field Operational Test in Gothenburg, Sweden. Presented at the 21st World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, Detroit, September 7-11-2014. Availble at: https://publications.lib.chalmers.se/publication/204386.

International Transport Forum (2015). UbiGo (Sweden) and St. Lawrence Seaway (Canada) share prestigious transport innovation award. Available at: http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/Press/PDFs/2015-05-20-InnovationAward.pdf.

Burrows, A. (n.d.). Journeys of the Future: Introducing Mobility as a Service. Available at: http://www.atkinsglobal.com/~/media/Files/A/Atkins-Corporate/uk-and-europe/uk-thought-leadership/reports/Journeys%20of%20the%20future_300315.pdf.

Recommendations for the design

The success of MaaS is determined by both offer (of mobility) and demand. If a MaaS operator offers a lot of mobility options, it becomes attractive to possible customers. If a MaaS operator reaches a lot of (possible) customers, it becomes attractive for mobility operators to work with. To attract sufficient mobility operators, a MaaS operator should work with open standards to make it easy for mobility operators to be included. Also, the mobility operators should have the opportunity to stay independent and distinguish themselves from competitors. For the users, the MaaS operator should provide an easy, seamless journey by integrating travel information, reservation, payment, data analysis and customer service. Also, the user should be able to travel wherever they want, whenever they want. By taking care of this, MaaS becomes a realistic alternative to car-ownership (this was concluded at the end of the pilot of UbiGo, as 50% said they would return to their old travel behaviour if there was no UbiGo).

Recommendations for the implementation

To implement a MaaS concept, different actors with different earning models and interests must work together. The process towards this collaboration can be time consuming. This should be taken into account.

UbiGo (Hans Arby) thinks that a MaaS operator should not be a PTO or PTA. A PTO could repel other mobility operators because they could think that there would be unfair competition. A PTA should not become a MaaS operator because MaaS is (in the case of UbiGo) mainly focused on young, rich, urban people and because there is a profitable business model. This could be a reason for governments not to become a MaaS operator.

Brief description

Mobility as a Service (http://www.ubigo.se): For half a year 70 paying households have been subscribing to a fully integrated mobility service with very positive results. The service combines PT, car-sharing, rental car service, taxi and a bicycle system – all in one app, all on one invoice and with 24/7 support and bonus points for sustainable choices. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIICvraIqxI (London).

Full description

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) offers a full door-to-door mobility service. The client does not need to worry about anything; alternatives are presented and payments are taken care of.

In MaaS, a MaaS operator (broker) buys services from mobility operators (PT, rental bike, car sharing, etc.). Customers book and pay their travels from this operator. When booking, customers can choose from several multimodal options for their travels, depending on travel time, travel costs and comfort. Because travel information is integrated in the booking process and provided during the travel, alternative options can be chosen during the booking process as well as during the travel. Several initiatives have been taken and pilots were started to set up MaaS operators. One of them is Ubigo in Sweden, a pilot project carried out in 2014 in Gothenburg with 70 households participating. The aim of UbiGo was to be a realistic and a good competitor of car ownership. During this pilot, participants purchased prepaid credits on a monthly basis to spend on the use of different mobility services. Additional services in UbiGo were a bonus system for eco-friendly transport choices and guaranteed travel (when PT was delayed 20 minutes or more, participants could order a taxi paid for by UbiGo). UbiGo is to be implemented on a larger scale.

It can be concluded that when PT decision-makers offer good PT and are willing to participate in the MaaS system at an early stage, MaaS offers an opportunity to PT rather than a threat and could attract more customers to PT.

CIPTEC score

4.5