EIT Urban Mobility blog: How is Mobility as a Service disrupting urban mobility in the cities?

By Daniel Serra, Director of Innovation Hub South for EIT Urban Mobility

MaaS is a drastic paradigm shift in the urban mobility space. Citizens won’t have to worry about topping up cards, buying tickets, paying for individual fares anymore. Suddenly, getting from A to B becomes a more fluid, integrated experience. It will be a massive time saver and, hopefully, a money saver too.

MaaS stands for Mobility as a Service and it is conceptualised as a form of integrating different modes of transportation to create less friction and to provide benefits to its regular users, through the application of information technology. The term comes from the recognition that transport has increasingly been treated as a service, in line with broader economic changes that put an emphasis on the service sector and in a subscription model for the renting of goods, rather than ownership.

There is general agreement that public transport is the backbone product of any MaaS offer. However, considering the increase of digitalisation, the need to have a more flexible and safer transport, the introduction of new mobility services normally offered by private companies, and the pressure to have more liveable urban spaces, MaaS would help to make more efficient use of existing infrastructure and help enhance sustainable mobility including public transport planning.

In Covid19 days, due to restrictions in our public transport capacity, demand and offer are usually unbalanced and users have some concerns about using sharing services. MaaS will help administrations to have more efficient, reliable, and safer transport in Covid19 times.

In our Mobility Talks’ episode 5, EIT Urban Mobility will invite a high-level panel of international experts and will guide a constructive discussion on the three most important challenges of MaaS:

• whether a suitable governance scheme (not technology) is key for MaaS to thrive.
• data as a cornerstone for any MaaS architecture for better managing mobility, addressing societal goals (sustainability, equity, accessibility) and enabling new viable business models around mobility services.
• the most interesting industry developments for more integrated user experience as a real and competitive alternative to the private car.

With the support of Factual, an innovation and strategy consultancy focused on mobility, we will share insights about the current situation of Maas in Europe. Three relevant start-ups in MaaS in Europe will present their MaaS solutions for urban mobility’s challenges and experts coming from public administrations will share with us their ideas on how MaaS will revolutionise transport and mobility in the very near future.

The webinar will take place on 17 September between 15:00 to 16:30h CET. If you are working for the mobility sector or you just want to discover how your mobility will be improved in your city, REGISTER!

Register now!