Mobility as a Service – ‘A MaaS-ive opportunity’

View original post.

Public and private sectors of the passenger transport world speak about transformative potential of ‘Mobility as a Service’

There is growing recognition in all corners of the passenger transport world of the game-changing potential of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – whereby travellers use a smartphone app to plan and pay for multi-modal journeys.

This year saw the launch of the UK’s first MaaS pilot scheme in the West Midlands (PT170), with the Whim app (pictured) offering travel on National Express buses and trams and Gett taxis.

“MaaS can increase the options and footprint of public transport and I think it’s an area that’s just going to grow and grow”

In an interview in the Urban Transport Review 2017, which accompanies this edition of Passenger Transport, Tobyn Hughes, chair of the Urban Transport Group, spoke about the potential of MaaS. “I think an app-driven approach has the ability to cover a lot of opportunities beyond traditional public transport,” he said. “MaaS can increase the options and footprint of public transport and I think it’s an area that’s just going to grow and grow.”

Robert Montgomery, the former managing director of Stagecoach’s UK bus business, is also enthusiastic. In an article in this edition of Passenger Transport, he asks whether the Whim trial represents “the first green shoots of the bus returning to mass relevance”? And he urges bus operators to have the vision and courage to try something new.

Montgomery writes: “The bus industry… should grasp the opportunities presented by technology and legislation to work with allies to provide something even better than the car in the drive in the form of seamless ride sharing mobility on tap.”