Mobility as a Service is not a ‘magic bullet’

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ITS (UK) responds to parliamentary inquiry

ITS (UK)’s ‘Mobility as a Service’ Interest Group has responded to the Transport Select Committee’s MaaS inquiry agreeing that there is significant global and UK interest in the concept, but warning that, unless done right, it could actually risk moving people from public transport to on-demand cars.

The group, led by representatives from Jacobs, Cubic, and AECOM, said that while there are not enough use-cases yet to analyse potential effectiveness, several UK and European pilot projects should start providing evidence in the near future.

“A MaaS App on its own is not a magic bullet… There are no existing examples of a high quality ticketing system used by a poor quality transport provider leading to increased ridership”

The select committee inquiry focussed on potential barriers to delivering MaaS and the ITS (UK) response sought to manage expectations, warning: “A MaaS App on its own is not a magic bullet. It must offer access to high quality, reliable services in order to get people to use it. There are no existing examples of a high quality ticketing system used by a poor quality transport provider leading to increased ridership.”

However, the group pointed to the opportunities of positioning the UK as a global leader in the delivery of MaaS which represents a very significant change in how transport users access services.

Group chair Andrew Pearce commented: “What’s clear fromour work is that MaaS can have positive or negative effects – the scale and direction of the benefits is down to participation: it’s a team sport where specific contributions are needed from private sector, local and central government – if one party takes over it will fail or be distorted with unwanted effects for the network”.

This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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