Mobility as a service

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For managing mobile devices, see mobility as a service (phones and tablets).

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is a type of service that, through a joint digital channel enables users to plan, book, and pay for multiple types of mobility services.[1][2] The concept describes a shift away from personally-owned modes of transportation and towards mobility provided as a service. This is enabled by combining transportation services from public and private transportation providers through a unified gateway that creates and manages the trip, which users can pay for with a single account. Users can pay per trip or a monthly fee for a limited distance. The key concept behind MaaS is to offer travelers mobility solutions based on their travel needs. Specialist urban mobility applications are also expanding their offerings to enable MaaS, such as Transit, Uber and Lyft.

Travel planning typically begins in a journey planner. For example, a trip planner can show that the user can get from one destination to another by using a train/bus combination. The user can then choose their preferred trip based on cost, time, and convenience. At that point, any necessary bookings (e.g. calling a taxi, reserving[3] a seat on a long-distance train) would be performed as a unit. It is expected that this service should allow roaming, that is, the same end-user app should work in different cities, without the user needing to become familiar with a new app or to sign up to new services. Together with other emerging vehicular technologies such as automated driving, connected cars and electric vehicles, MaaS is contributing to a new type of future mobility, which is autonomous, connected, electric and shared vehicles.[4]

Trend towards MaaS[]

Booming demand for more personalised transport services has created a market space and momentum for MaaS. The movement towards MaaS is fueled by a myriad of innovative new mobility service providers such as carpool and ridesharing companies, bicycle-sharing systems programs, scooter-sharing systems and carsharing services as well as on-demand "pop-up" bus services. On the other hand, the trend is motivated by the anticipation of self-driving cars, which puts into question the economic benefit of owning a personal car over using on-demand car services, which are widely expected to become significantly more affordable when cars can drive autonomously.

This shift is further enabled by improvements in the integration of multiple modes of transport into seamless trip chains, with bookings and payments managed collectively for all legs of the trip.[5] In London, commuters may use a contactless payment bank card (or a dedicated travel card called an Oyster card) to pay for their travel. Between the multiple modes, trips, and payments, data is gathered and used to help people's journeys become more efficient.[6] In the government space, the same data allows for informed decision-making when considering improvements in regional transit systems.

Potential impacts[]

Mobility as a service may cause a decline in car ownership. If average vehicle occupancy for on-road time decreases, total vehicle-kilometres-travelled will increase.[7]

MaaS could significantly increase the efficiency and utilization of transit providers that contribute to the overall transit network in a region. The predictions were validated by the Ubigo trial in Gothenburg during which many private cars were deregistered for the duration of the trial and utilization of existing transit services increased the efficiency of the overall network. Ultimately, a more efficient network coupled with new technology such as autonomous vehicles could significantly reduce the cost of public transit.[7]

MaaS could improve ridership habits, transit network efficiency, decrease costs to the user, improve utilization of MaaS transit providers, reduce city congestion as more users adopt MaaS as a main source of transit, and reduce emissions as more users rely on public transit component, autonomous vehicles in a MaaS network.[8]

MaaS equally has many benefits for the business world - understanding the Total Cost of Business Mobility could help travel decision makers in the corporate world save hundreds of thousands. By analysing data and costs attributed to "business mobility" (e.g. vehicle rental costs, fuel costs, parking charges, train ticket admin fees and even the time taken to book a journey) businesses can make informed decisions about travel policy, fleet management and expense claims. Some MaaS companies suggest that in journey planning alone, it can take up to 9 steps before a simple travel arrangement is booked.

However, there are also many anticipated challenges for sustainability and governance stemming from MaaS, ranging from increased energy use, reduced health effects, and up to conflicts across organizations.[9][10]

MaaS also holds remarkable potential in the revolutionizing of public transport systems in developing countries. Since developing countries tend to depend heavily on informal and unstructured public transport modes, the concept of MaaS according to some researchers, could hold the key to providing more efficient, equitable and accessible transportation services.[11] In these contexts however, MaaS may need to be re-envisioned, and tailored to the unique challenges of the developing world, in order to create the desired impacts.[12]

Payment methods[]

The concept assumes use through mobile app, although the concept can also be used for any type of payment (transit card, ticket, etc.).

The concept is then broken down further into 2 payment models:

The Monthly subscription model assumes that enough users consume public transit services on a monthly basis to offer bundled transit service. Users pay a monthly fee and receive bundled transit services such as unlimited travel on urban public transport in addition to a fixed number of taxi kilometers. The monthly subscription model incorporates a well-funded commercially operated "MaaS Operator" which will purchase transport services in bulk and provide guarantees to users. In Hanover, Germany, the MaaS operator can purchase bulk transit services and act as the middleman through the product, Hannovermobil.[13] It is not necessary that the operator include all forms of transport, but just enough to be able to provide reasonable guarantees. A monthly subscription will also provide enough funding for the MaaS operator to purchase significant enough transit services that it can use market power to achieve competitive prices. In particular, a MaaS operator may improve the problems of low utilization - e.g. in Helsinki, taxi drivers spend 75% of their working time waiting for a customer, and 50% of kilometers driven without generating revenue. A MaaS operator can solve this problem by guaranteeing a base salary to taxi drivers through existing employers.

The Pay-as-you-go model operates well in environments with a high number of "one-off" riders (tourists, transit networks in areas with high car adoption, etc.). Each leg of the booked trip (each train trip, taxi trip etc.) is priced separately and is set by the transport service provider. In this model, mobile applications would operate as search engines, seeking to draw all transport service providers into a single application, enabling users to avoid having to interact with multiple gateways in an attempt to assemble the most optimal trip. Many cities have cards which pay for intermodal public transport, including Vienna[14] and Stuttgart[15] but none yet include taxis/on-demand buses in the service.

Both models have similar requirements, such as trip planners to construct optimal trip chains, and technical and business relationships with transport service providers, (i.e. a taxi booking/payment API and e-ticketing, QR codes on urban buses and metros, etc.).

Impact of autonomous vehicles[]

As the development of the autonomous car accelerates, the company Uber has announced that it plans to transition its app to a fully autonomous service and aims to be cheaper than car ownership.[16] Many automobile manufacturers and technology companies have announced plans or are rumored to develop autonomous vehicles, including Tesla, Mobileye, General Motors, Waymo, Apple, and Local Motors.

Autonomous vehicles could allow the public to use roads in low cost-per-kilometre, self-navigating vehicles to a preferred destination at a significantly lower cost than current taxi and ridesharing prices.[7][17] The vehicles could have a large impact on the quality of life in urban areas and form a critical part of the future of transportation, while benefiting the traveler, the environment, and even other sectors such as healthcare.[18]

Modelling scenarios were conducted on the deployment of shared autonomous vehicles on the city of Lisbon by PTV as part of the International Transport Forum's Corporate Partnership Board.[19] This model shows that the positive impacts on transport networks and mobility in congested places will be realised to their greatest extent with increases in shared minibus/bus scale public transport in addition to ride-sharing; whereas autonomous taxis with individual passengers would see a large increase in vehicle kilometres and congestion.

In January 2016, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, secured funding to be used over the next ten years to support the development of autonomous vehicles.[20]

Historical timeline[]

In 1996, the concept of an "intelligent information assistant" integrating different travel and tourism services was introduced at the ENTER conference.[21]

The concept first arose in Sweden. A well-executed trial was conducted in Gothenburg under the monthly subscription model.[22] The service was well received; however, it was discontinued due to lack of support at the government level for third party on-selling of public transport tickets.

In June 2012, Agrion, an energy storage company, sponsored a 1/2-day conference in San Francisco, CA titled "E-Mobility as a Service"[23] at which the concept of Mobility as a Service was discussed as a potential outcome of the confluence between the digital realm of smartphone technology and shared electric autonomous vehicles [hence the E-Mobility in the conferences title]. The notion of a digitally connected seamless multi-modal transportation network was discussed as a potential outcome of the real-time connectivity offered by the newly introduced smart phone. The idea was that this would become so ubiquitous and seamless that mobility could be "backgrounded" in the urban fabric similar to other essential utilities or services. It would come to be seen as common place as turning on the tap to get water or the light switch to get illumination; hence mobility-as-a-service.

The idea then gained widespread publicity through the efforts of Sampo Hietanen, CEO of ITS Finland (later founder and CEO of Maas Global), and Sonja Heikkila, then a Masters student at Aalto University,[24] and the support of the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communication.[25]

MaaS became a popular topic at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems 2015 in Bordeaux, and subsequently, the Mobility as a Service Alliance was formed.[26] In 2017 the MaaS Alliance published its white paper[27] on Mobility as a Service, and how to create foundation for thriving MaaS ecosystem.

The EU-funded "Mobinet" project has laid some of the groundwork for MaaS, e.g. pan-European identity management of travellers, and payments, and links to trip planners.[28]

In September 2019, Berlin's public transport authority Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) continued Mobility as a Service development by launching first in the world large scale and city owned project "Jelbi"[29] together with a Lithuanian mobility startup Trafi.

See also[]

  • Intelligent Transport Systems Associations
  • Demand responsive transport

References[]

  1. ^ Smith, Göran. "Making Mobility-as-a-Service: Towards Governance Principles and Pathways". Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  2. ^ Mladenović, Miloš N. (2021). "Mobility as a Service". International Encyclopedia of Transportation. pp. 12–18. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-102671-7.10607-4. ISBN 978-0-08-102672-4. S2CID 242133419.
  3. ^ "Global Intelligent Transportation Systems Market to Grow at a CAGR of over 10% Through 2020 Finds TechSci Research" (Press release). TechSci Research. 18 January 2016.
  4. ^ Hamid, Umar Zakir Abdul; Al-Turjman, Fadi (2021). "Introductory Chapter: A Brief Overview of Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared (ACES) Vehicles as the Future of Mobility". Towards Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Highways. EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing. pp. 3–8. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-66042-0_1. ISBN 978-3-030-66041-3. S2CID 238013009.
  5. ^ Kamargianni, Maria. "Feasibility Study for Mobility as a Service Concept for London" (PDF). Retrieved Jun 1, 2015.
  6. ^ "NextCity: Cubic's Vision for the Future of Urban Mobility". www.cubic.com. 2014-10-21. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  7. ^ a b c Taiebat; Brown; Safford; Qu; Xu (2018). "A Review on Energy, Environmental, and Sustainability Implications of Connected and Automated Vehicles". Environmental Science & Technology. 52 (20): 11449–11465. arXiv:1901.10581. doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b00127. PMID 30192527. S2CID 52174043.
  8. ^ "Car Emissions and Global Warming". Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  9. ^ Pangbourne, Kate; Mladenović, Miloš N.; Stead, Dominic; Milakis, Dimitris (January 2020). "Questioning mobility as a service: Unanticipated implications for society and governance". Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. 131: 35–49. doi:10.1016/j.tra.2019.09.033. S2CID 181893706.
  10. ^ Mladenović, Miloš N.; Haavisto, Noora (June 2021). "Interpretative flexibility and conflicts in the emergence of Mobility as a Service: Finnish public sector actor perspectives". Case Studies on Transport Policy. 9 (2): 851–859. doi:10.1016/j.cstp.2021.04.005. S2CID 234851464.
  11. ^ Dzisi, Emmanuel; Obeng, Daniel Atuah; Tuffour, Yaw Adubofour (May 2021). "Modifying the SERVPERF to assess paratransit minibus taxis trotro in Ghana and the relevance of mobility-as-a-service features to the service". Heliyon. 7 (5): e07071. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07071. PMC 8176316. PMID 34136679.
  12. ^ Dzisi, Emmanuel Komla Junior; Obeng, Daniel Atuah; Ackaah, Williams; Tuffour, Yaw Adubofour (1 January 2022). "MaaS for paratransit minibus taxis in developing countries: A review". Travel Behaviour and Society. 26: 18–27. doi:10.1016/j.tbs.2021.09.001. S2CID 239334558.
  13. ^ "Bicycle, Car & CarSharing". www.gvh.de. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  14. ^ "Home page". Oct 10, 2015.
  15. ^ "Company web page". Oct 10, 2015. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  16. ^ "Uber CEO explains his company's highly ambitious goal to end car ownership in the world". Business Insider Australia. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  17. ^ Rubalcava, Alex (2015-08-26). "A Roadmap for a World Without Drivers". Alex Rubalcava. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
  18. ^ "Driving Forward - What's Beyond Self-Driving Cars? | TechWeekEurope UK". TechWeekEurope UK. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  19. ^ Urban Mobility System Upgrade: How shared self-driving cars could change city traffic (PDF). International Transport Forum's Corporate Partnership Board. 2015.
  20. ^ Wagstaff, Keith. "Obama Administration Unveils $4B Plan to Jump-Start Self-Driving Cars". NBC News. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  21. ^ Tschanz, Nico; Zimmermann, Hans-Dieter (1996). "The Electronic Mall Bodensee as Platform for the Development of Travel Services". Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism. pp. 200–210. doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-7598-9_23. ISBN 978-3-211-82798-7.
  22. ^ "Ubigo home page (Swedish)". Oct 10, 2015.
  23. ^ "E-Mobility as a Service (Half Day Conference)". June 26, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  24. ^ "Mobility as a Service - A Proposal for Action for the Public Administration, Case Helsinki". Oct 10, 2015. Archived from the original on May 24, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  25. ^ "Mobility as a Service – the new transport paradigm". Oct 10, 2015. Archived from the original on August 5, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  26. ^ "Launch of MaaS Alliance". October 10, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  27. ^ "White Paper: Mobility as a Service (MaaS)" (PDF). MaaS Alliance. Brussels. September 4, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  28. ^ "Mobinet home page". Oct 10, 2015.
  29. ^ Busvine, Douglas (Sep 24, 2019). "From U-Bahn to e-scooters: Berlin mobility app has it all". Reuters.

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