Mobility-as-a-Service:
Cities on the move
Lessons learned from cities at
different stages on their MaaS journey
Written by:
Sarah Wray, Editor, SmartCitiesWorld
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SmartCitiesWorld Trend Reports examine an
emerging or growing trend in smart cities,
highlighting progress so far and future
potential, as well as spotlighting case studies
from cities around the world.
In this report, we examine Mobility-as-a-Service.
MaaS is central to smarter cities
City leaders around the world are working to increase mobility as part of the
overarching goal to improve quality of life in the places we live and work.
Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is central to achieving this.
What is MaaS?
MaaS brings together the various transportation options in a city – such as
public transport, shared bikes, ride-hailing services, on-demand options, etc.
– and allows citizens to plan their route, choose their preferred mode of travel
and book and pay for everything via one app.
Why MaaS?
MaaS is in the early stages of deployment in selected cities and regional areas,
but it’s growing fast.
The adoption of MaaS platforms will replace over 2.3 billion urban private
car journeys annually by 2023, compared with 17.6 million globally in 2018,
according to Juniper Research.
One factor driving MaaS is the increased complexity around us. With an evergrowing number of ride-hailing companies, bike-sharing services, journey
planning apps, ticketing and payment options etc., streamlining and simplicity
is required. Otherwise, citizens may give up due to frustration.
MaaS should allow cities, citizens and mobility providers to benefit from the
“network effect” – that is, the phenomenon of a product or service becoming
more valuable as more people and partners use it.
There is also increased pressure on cities to tackle pressing challenges,
such as climate change, faster. This means reducing personal car use and
encouraging more sustainable forms of transport.
As well as helping citizens get around more easily and contributing to environmental and health goals, MaaS can also provide information back to cities to help
them plan future transportation advances and improvements. It can even contribute to the city’s economy and generate new revenue for all stakeholders.
Juniper forecasts that MaaS will lead to annual time savings of over 500 million
hours by 2023 – equivalent to 90 hours per annum per MaaS user.
While challenges remain – and significant ones at that – pioneering cities are
already showing the art of the possible, as we’ll explore in this report.
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In transit: The journey to MaaS
Cities are at various stages on their journey to MaaS. Our case studies
highlight different approaches from pioneering cities and the takeaways we
can draw from their work so far.
KVV transforms from transportation provider
to mobility network
In May 2017, Karlsruhe Transport Authority (KVV) launched the ‘KVV.mobil’
app. With the free app, users can easily access a growing network of public
and private mobility services in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The app displays real-time connections and departure times of buses, trains and
trams at all 1,900 stops in the KVV area, as well as available rental bicycles from
regional bike-sharing provider, Fächerrad (NextBike) and StadtMobil (car-sharing).
All tickets and bikes can be booked and paid for directly in the app.
Karlsruhe’s Mayor, Dr. Frank Mentrup, said: “The intelligent linking of mobility
services will lead to entirely new transport concepts. We are developing
innovative solutions for the mobility of the future.”
KVV CEO, Dr. Alexander Pischon, views the initiative as an important building block
in transforming the transit authority “from a service provider with a traditional range of
local transportation services, like buses, trains and trams, into a mobility network”.
He said: “We carry more than 170 million passengers per year. In the future,
we plan to incorporate more mobility service providers into the system, so that
our customers will be able to get from A to B even more flexibly.”
Since its launch, usage of the KVV.mobil app is growing by around 500,000
interactions per month – especially for real-time transport updates.
KVV is now in discussions with transportation authorities in nearby regions to
collaborate on an integrated tariff to make it even easier for customers travelling across regional borders.
Manchester road-tests MaaS
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) oversees 2.1 billion journeys made
across the region each year – 59 per cent of these are in cars.
TfGM’s goals include reducing congestion, improving air quality and increasing the availability, affordability and reliability of public transport. The authority
is investigating how MaaS can help it to achieve this.
In October 2017, TfGM, working with Atkins/SNC-Lavalin, ran a MaaS trial to
understand user behaviour and perceptions of MaaS. The initiative brought
together a wide range of stakeholders and paves the way for a MaaS solution
specific to the needs of the region.
From 230 volunteer residents, 39 participants were chosen to take part in the
live trial. In-depth research such as interviews and ride-alongs highlighted
some of the key issues that Manchester’s commuters face.
Participants received daily, personalised travel plans, including buses, trams,
car-share, taxi, bike-share, on-demand shared mini-bus and walking – all
offered via a single ticketing option. Real-time travel updates were provided
along with re-routing during travel disruptions.
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Following TfGM’s trial:
26%
were more willing to
use public transport
21%
were more willing
to cycle and walk
Nudging
A personal profile was created for each participant and behavioural ‘nudges’
were sent to encourage changes in travel behaviour. A quarter of nudges were
accepted by participants, with responses providing some fascinating early
indicators of what motivates individuals to change their travel behaviours.
TfGM says the results from the real-world trial were “very encouraging”. The
authority concluded there was a strong strategic case for TfGM to invest in MaaS
and that MaaS could be a significant tool in achieving TfGM’s objectives, along
with the wider city goals for sustainability and economic growth set by the Mayor.
Following the trial, 26 per cent of participants said they were more willing to
use public transport, and 21 per cent were more willing to cycle and walk.
There was a 27 per cent increase in positive perception of public transport – a
figure that had previously been in decline.
Six months after the trial, 82 per cent of participants said they wanted MaaS
back. A third of car owners wanted to give up their vehicle and the majority
were willing to increase their monthly travel spend for MaaS. Twenty per cent
of participants had incorporated active travel into their daily commute and one
participant even moved jobs to be able to walk to and from work, demonstrating the health potential of MaaS.
Next steps
TfGM is continuing its work to facilitate MaaS, identifying the roles of different
stakeholders in the MaaS commercial ecosystem. TfGM is also continuing
to iteratively develop the business case for MaaS regarding commercial
relationships, the operating framework and the financial model through iMOVE
and MaaS4EU, two European research projects funded by the European
Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.
Rafael Cuesta, Head of Innovation, TfGM, said: “The future of MaaS in Greater
Manchester looks promising. TfGM continues to support MaaS for Greater Manchester… the journey continues!”
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“We want to complement our existing
bus and train service with flexible,
customer-oriented solutions. The goal
is to have ever more citizens choosing
public transportation.”
Wolfgang Arnold, former CEO, SSB
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Stuttgart plots the route,
plugs the gaps
Stuttgart’s ‘Sustainable Mobility in Stuttgart’ action plan aims to reduce car
traffic, promote sustainable modes of transport and address the city’s welldocumented air pollution problem. A shift to MaaS is helping to support this.
Since 2012, moovel (which will soon become REACH NOW as part of the
mobility joint venture between Daimler AG and BMW Group) and Stuttgarter
Straßenbahnen (SSB), the leading public transport operator in the German city
of Stuttgart, have been working to simplify access to mobility. In 2015, moovel
made it possible for citizens and visitors to book and pay for public transport
tickets, as well as journeys with car2go, mytaxi and Deutsche Bahn via one app.
At the beginning of 2018, SSB BestPreis was introduced and was the first
SSB-branded application based on moovel-technology. BestPreis uses AI to
calculate the best price for users based on their travel history.
In June 2018, SSB Flex was launched as the next stage, following a pilot test
with more than 20,000 passengers. This on-demand public transportation
network service operates in Degerloch and Cannstatt during the day, as well
as in the city centre of Stuttgart, Degerloch and Bad Cannstatt on weekend
evenings. Passengers make their journey requests via an app, on-demand,
and then ride-share part of their journey with other passengers.
Wolfgang Arnold, former CEO, SSB, explains: “We want to complement our
existing bus and train service with flexible, customer-oriented solutions. This
way we can fill the gaps, both in time and location. The goal is to have ever
more citizens choosing public transportation.”
SSB’s approach demonstrates how cities and transport authorities can make
gradual moves towards MaaS – testing out the models and helping citizens
get used to new modes of transportation.
Innovative funding model
drives micro-mobility in LA
Los Angeles is regularly ranked as one of the most congested cities in the US.
It is a city historically designed around the personal car so changing people’s
behaviour is a challenge.
In October 2018, FASTLinkDTLA, Downtown LA’s transportation management
public-private partnership (PPP), launched a new ride-sharing pilot to complement the city’s public transit network.
The service is available in the evenings when public transport services are less
frequent. A white-label mobile app from moovel allows riders to plan and pay
for their on-demand trip. The service is door to door and users share the ride
with other passengers headed in the same direction.
“I have supported the FASTLinkDTLA programme from the very beginning of
its grant application and am pleased to see this pilot moving forward,” said Los
Angeles City Council member José Huizar. “DTLA needs the addition of this
service, and more to follow, in order to meet the intense growth demands that
make Downtown Los Angeles one of the fastest growing urban centres in the nation. That growth is achievable if we help FASTLinkDTLA accomplish its goals to
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incentivise people to travel together by transit, micro-transit, biking and walking.”
Interestingly, the project has been partially funded through the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Metro) ExpressLanes programme, which is designed to improve traffic flow and provide enhanced
travel options in Los Angeles County. Metro is reinvesting some ExpressLanes
toll revenues into the FlexLA project.
“Microtransit helps us create an oasis in a transit desert,” said LADOT General
Manager Seleta Reynolds. “This pilot connects people to more places and
more opportunities. When we create smart, easy, sustainable mobility choices
that work, everybody wins.”
The green light for MaaS
There are many routes to MaaS but these strategies can help any city progress
– whatever its starting point.
Find your place: The city or transportation authority’s role in MaaS can vary.
They could choose only to be a service provider (providing the public transportation element of MaaS). However, as KVV, for example, shows, many are
assuming the role of ‘mobility manager’. This means having a direct relationship with the customer and overseeing the user experience and integration of
all the mobility service providers.
Align with city goals: As the case studies show, to avoid getting hung up on
the technology and buzzwords, the development and roll-out of MaaS should
be mapped to the city’s overarching targets, such as reducing air pollution,
improving citizen experience, using existing infrastructure better and saving
money. This, as well as live trials, will help secure senior level buy-in for MaaS,
which will be critical to its ultimate success.
Create the environment for MaaS to thrive: Regulatory challenges can be
one of the biggest hold-ups for MaaS. Mobility managers are best placed to
understand multiple perspectives and lead the way with shaping regulations
and policy locally and nationally to support MaaS.
Examples of progress are emerging. Finland, for example, developed the
Transport Services Act, which came into effect on January 1 2018, to promote
the digitalisation of transport services and more efficient use of data.
As a first step, Thomas Friderich, Head of Business Development, moovel,
also advises organising all the city’s public transportation under a central transit authority and a single, shared tariff.
He comments: “This is a fundamental base to have. Transport for London (TfL)
is a good example.”
Collaborate: Earlier this year, Juniper Research ranked Helsinki as the top city in
the world for MaaS, followed by Stockholm, Vienna, Amsterdam and Austin.
Juniper highlighted Helsinki’s success in driving vital collaboration between
government and MaaS vendors. This collaboration is essential to establish
the ground-rules and commercial models to benefit the whole ecosystem,
including citizens.
Inter-city and inter-region collaboration are also becoming more important. Initially,
MaaS is likely to work at a city or a regional level, then a national and eventually
international level in the future, reflecting the way people move around.
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“MaaS is just one stage.
There’s no limit to where
you can take this.”
We are seeing the early stages of this already through the regional visions of
Karlsruhe and Manchester, for instance.
Simplify ticketing – starting with mobile payments: Mobile ticketing will
total 1.9 billion by 2023, up from a projected 1.1 billion in 2019, according to
a new study from Juniper Research. In comparison, the total number of digital
ticketing users across mobile, online and wearable channels will reach 2.2
billion by 2023.
Juniper advised: “MaaS is set to become the central pillar of smart city transport initiatives, which will lead to 60 per cent of all mobile ticketing users using
metro and rail ticketing by 2023. Cities envisioning MaaS as the solution to
improving citizen lifestyles must invest in mobile ticketing.”
Open data, open systems: Data from devices and connected infrastructure is
the fuel of MaaS. Much of the data exists but is not shared. Cities and transportation authorities need to first open their transport data, then drive openness throughout the ecosystem.
Clearly, data privacy is paramount but research from Transport Systems Catapult (TSC) found that 57 per cent of respondents would not mind sharing
their personal data in order to get a better transport service and that half
of smartphone users already consider the smartphone as essential to their
travel experience.
Increasingly, city RFPs (requests for proposals) are starting to mandate that
new mobility providers must have open interfaces as well as share specific
data back to the city for planning purposes.
Involve people: Like any smart city initiative, it’s important to involve citizens
in co-creation. That way, they are more likely to get on board with new
systems and see the value of them. It also prevents them from feeling that
technology is being imposed.
Feedback and insights derived from consultation with citizens will be pivotal to
making any eventual roll-out a success.
Where next?
Leon Rizzi, Chief Sales Officer, moovel, explains his vision for MaaS: “MaaS
is just one stage. There’s no limit to where you can take this – it can extend to
any service that captures movement, such as toll roads and airports.
“Imagine how easy it would be if you’re driving around Europe and you’re able
to pay for all the toll roads through one app. Or if you’re going on holiday and
you can manage airport transfers, flights, parking check-in and even hotels via
the same app.”
He adds: “Technically, all of this is possible. It’s just a question of
administration, logistics and commercial models. But we’re getting there.”
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MaaS: A world without traffic jams?
moovel’s vision is “a world without traffic jams”. Its mobility
solutions and apps are helping to simplify urban mobility and
encourage people to switch to shared mobility in cities including
Stuttgart, Los Angeles and Karlsruhe. Thomas Friderich, Head of
Business Development at moovel, shares his insights on MaaS.
Is MaaS right for all cities?
For large cities, yes, it’s a good fit for everybody. Even
when you look at rural areas or smaller towns – it might be
more of a challenge and that may come later than in larger
cities but generally, I think that this is a trend that we’re
going to see globally.
Where are we in terms of MaaS deployment and adoption?
Some cities are further ahead than others but I think it’s
very high on the agenda.
There are a few cities where we can see things really
happening like Helsinki, for example. There are smaller
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pilots in Germany as well which are going in a very similar
direction. We are just at the start of a movement but we
are seeing very promising progress.
What role do you think the city plays in MaaS?
There’s a lot of discussion about the best way to implement
MaaS – whether it should be a private initiative led by
industrial partners, or whether it should be something that is
led by the government.
At moovel, we firmly believe that the city or the public
transport authority should play a leading role. That’s why
we partner with the city and offer our tools as white-label.
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The most liveable cities today have a somewhat regulated environment, rather than a totally free market. If you
look at the development of Copenhagen, for example, you
can clearly see how the government has taken the leading
role investing in infrastructure and services, and given
guidance and regulation on how the city should develop.
This might make it slightly slower to achieve MaaS, but it’s
more sustainable.
What are the challenges to MaaS?
There’s no denying moving towards MaaS is a big task and
it’s very complex because you have a lot of stakeholders
with very different interests. It can be broken down into
various fields, though.
One area is technology. This is where moovel can help
because we can provide a completely standalone system
as a white-label app which is customisable.
Another big challenge is the legal framework that comes
with it. The city government or transportation authority’s
role is to get all the stakeholders under one roof and find a
win-win situation for everybody.
A further issue is the way we currently pay for mobility services. Tariffs are typically different for public
transport, taxis, car-sharing, bike-sharing, scooters,
etc. Sometimes it’s pay-as-you-go, sometimes variable
tariffs, other times it’s a flat rate or even a monthly pass.
It’s not easy to find a way of combining that into a MaaS
package but as MaaS advances, cities are finding ways
ahead here.
Do cities need to have a certain level of maturity in
particular areas before they move ahead with MaaS?
The first foundation is a public transit authority which
combines all the public transport services under one
tariff. That’s quite a big task which could slow the
MaaS process down by a year or two but, I think, it’s an
essential step.
Providing open data for public transport is also a critical
foundational step, as is opening up the ticketing for other
providers and asking all mobility providers to have the
same openness.
For example, in Stuttgart a new bike-sharing programme was put in place through a public tender. The
tender document clearly stated that the new provider
must provide open data interfaces for the MaaS platform.
moovel has been working closely with cities such as
Stuttgart. What are your takeaways from this project so far?
We’ve been active with our MaaS platform in Stuttgart for
two years now.
One key takeaway is that it takes time to develop these
systems – not only from an IT point of view but also in
terms of educating users and making them aware of the
new opportunities available to them.
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It’s a new way of organising personal mobility and it
will change people’s behaviour, for sure. We see excellent
traction with new ways of managing tariffs – the BestPreis
app, for example, calculates the best price for public
transportation tickets. Users don’t have to worry about
tariff systems, which are very, complex in Germany. They
just check in and check out. The app totals the price
for all journeys made by the user during the course of a
month and calculates the best possible price. At the end
of the invoicing period, the algorithm calculates an optimal
combination of short-trip, single, day and monthly tickets,
and the user is only charged the cheapest option. Hence,
users no longer have to search for the cheapest ticket
option themselves.
We have also seen an increase in the usage of public
transport in Stuttgart. It’s really proven that public transport is the backbone of mobility as a service.
“Moving towards MaaS is complex
because you have stakeholders
with very different interests, but it
can be broken down.”
How do you see MaaS evolving?
In the short term, we will see a lot of new services – more
scooter-sharing, more car-sharing, etc. Bike-sharing
might have already peaked in terms of the number of
providers and I think we will see some consolidation of
the market. That doesn’t mean we will see less usage of
bike-sharing, but we will probably see only three or five
big providers, compared to 10 or 20 now.
This year and early next year we will see an even broader range of different mobility services. There will be more
and more pilots which will combine those new services to
create a one-stop shop for the various providers.
Another interesting area is taxation – especially when it
comes to commuting. In some places in the US, for example, monthly passes can be deducted from tax, whereas
in Germany it’s the other way around. Company cars are
highly subsidised through the way they’re taxed. Monthly
passes are starting to be in some places but other forms
of transportation, like car-sharing or bike-sharing, don’t
typically have any taxation benefit – yet.
In about two or three years, we will see the first cities
where MaaS will have significant traction, where the
city or transportation authority has taken the leading
role and fully implemented and marketed MaaS as the
primary platform.
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