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Measure twice, cut once: Lessons learned from Sweden's Mobility as a Service pilot.

Swedish researchers interviewed key stakeholders to assemble recommendations learned during the ultimately unsuccessful project.

Date Posted
02/24/2020
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Identifier
2020-L00939

Intermediary MaaS Integrators:A case study on hopes and fears

Summary Information

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept in which multiple transport modes are bundled into joint service packages. These packages are offered to travelers to provide tailored mobility solutions that can be flexibly used to meet their needs. MaaS has been featured in a number of pilots, largely in Europe, and offers a vision of a possible future for on-demand mobility. Suggested benefits from its structure include lower environmental impacts from travel, reduced congestion, decreased need for personal vehicle ownership, and improved accessibility.

However, significant barriers still exist to widespread adoption of MaaS. In particular, European legislation is considered to make transit agencies' participation in MaaS difficult or impossible, and there is still much work that would need to be done in coordinating efforts between governmental and private mobility providers.

To analyze these factors, a team of researchers analyzed the efforts of an attempted MaaS integration deployment in Sweden. The effort, named Mobilitestorget, was unsuccessful, but provided ample material to understand some of the dynamics at play. The researchers conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and prospective operators. Additionally, they distributed a questionnaire to the interviewees that collected their responses in a quantitative manner.

Lessons Learned

The interviewees provided a range of insights, including recommendations for future deployments to avoid the pitfalls that Mobilitestorget encountered.

  • Go beyond offering technical services. The researchers concluded that "mere access to data" is insufficient for triggering innovation, and deployers of MaaS should focus on process facilitation activities such as contract management and collaboration support.
  • Have clear, declared objectives. Objectives should be reflected in all of a deployer's activities. A high level of transparency regarding objectives can also foster trust and understanding between stakeholders.
  • Be impartial and capable actors. Impartiality is a necessary trait to balance the varying needs and expectations of stakeholders, especially over the long term. MaaS integrators have better odds of developing a viable model if its management has a large action space, existing relationships to service providers, and access to sufficient funding.
  • Carefully consider launch strategies. Depending on a deployer's underlying objectives, available funds, and existing relations, different strategies to launch and sustain a new MaaS program may vary. It is important to anchor decisions with key customers and to incrementally develop functionality rather than opting for a large, inclusive launch.
  • Only introduce a deployment if basic incentives are in place for operators and providers to use the service. At its most fundamental, this includes establishing whether there is a market for MaaS among citizens, whether service providers are open to partnerships, and whether they think that the MaaS system can benefit them.
Goal Areas
System Engineering Elements

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