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Disruptive technologies, use cases of new mobility services and regulations by city/region

Digitalization, technology innovations, sharing economy and the need to be more sustainable due to the climate crisis have boosted the explosion of new innovative mobility services with the aim of covering people’s mobility daily needs in the best possible way. However, there is no single transportation mode that can meet all the diverse and dynamic travel requirements of today citizens. Hence, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is seen as the solution to improve intermodal access to public and private mobility services while aligning with the sustainable cities approach.

MaaS is a platform that integrates a variety of transportation modes, either traditional (e.g., bus, metro, and taxis) or innovative (e.g., car sharing, bike sharing, and ride sharing), in combination with other transport-related services (e.g., ticketing, booking, and payment systems). It has emerged as an innovative concept expected to offer the best transportation experience for users. It allows the users to plan, book and pay for the services selected as well as other transport related services such as parking. In fact, users are the main actors in the MaaS ecosystem and the market segmentation to address the needs of the different kinds of users, with tailored mobility packages, is one of the main challenges ahead.

It is widely claimed that MaaS could bring considerable societal benefits, such as an improve air quality, reduce the energy requirements, improvement of road safety and the efficiency in the transport system. Additionally, advocates of MaaS argue that it could reduce social exclusion and bring new opportunities for economic growth. However, its successful implementation depends not only on the public acceptance (which can be considered as a precondition), but also, on three factors: Disruptive Technologies, New Business Models, and Regulations.