The role of intermodality and environmental consciousness in the preferences for MaaS bundles: A hybrid choice modeling approach

Abstract

The interest in Mobility as a Service (MaaS) continues to increase among researchers, where the main driver of successful implementation is the travelers’ adoption of the service, which can be achieved by providing suitable mobility solution in the form of MaaS packages. This paper examines preferences for MaaS packages where a stated choice experiment is conducted among 519 individuals via an online survey in Hungary, and a hybrid choice modeling is estimated allowing the understanding the impact of latent attitudinal variables on preferences. The results show that almost half of the participants would purchase MaaS bundles, but the potential adopters vary according to socio-demographic and travel characteristics. Participants value the inclusion of PT, bike-sharing services, and online shopping voucher discounts in the bundle, while car-sharing and e-scooter-sharing are not so popular. Additionally, transfer between modes and environmental consciousness influence the bundle uptake positively. The findings suggest that future MaaS operators should carefully design mobility bundles to alter travel behavior and obtain a commercially feasible uptake level. The potential negative impacts of MaaS remains a challenge for policymakers and a topic for future studies.