MaaS : The Plan, Book & Ride Journey

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is a relatively new concept, which holds the promise for a paradigm shift in the provision of urban mobility. The concept of MaaS is to use a single app to access and pay for various transport modes within a city or beyond; and the app will give options to allow a traveller to select the most suitable transport mode. The concept of MaaS is enabled by the current mass uptake of smart phones and social media as well ubiquitous internet connection.

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Introduction

Traditionally, a traveller needs different tickets for different transport modes and/or different operators. In recent years, public transport operators have made considerable efforts to provide a single public transport ticket to allow a traveller to use public transport services from different transport operators in the same city or region. However, recently also many new transport service provisions have entered the market, such as bicycle sharing, car sharing and ride sharing.

Usage of those new transport modes are accelerated by increasing concerns from users for sustainability and environment. In addition, changes in lifestyles of younger generations and people who choose to live in cities rather than the traditionally suburban life style, which depends on private car as the main transport mode.

Modern mobility should offer a high level of flexibility and convenience. The public transport operator association has already forecasted that combining various transport modes, e.g. car-sharing, taxi, shared taxis, bicycle and bike-sharing, carpooling, demand-responsible transport can complement the classic fixed lined and routed public transport.