Do integrated mobility services have a future? The neglected role of non-mobility service providers: Challenges, and opportunities to extract sustainable transport outcomes

Abstract

For the last twenty years we have seen exponential growth in interest in developing ways in which we can offer to the market a unified multi-modal ecosystem that is so appealing that individuals would abandon their traditional ways of making travel choices. The new ways are guided by offers through a digital platform either through pay as you go or a subscription to a package that aligns with more sustainable travel behaviour activity. Branded as Mobility as a Service (MaaS), we have to date seen little success despite the continuing euphoria in many settings. This paper is the result of a significant amount of research and practice designed to find ways to give MaaS a chance in the market, reflecting on what we see as the key features of any future MaaS aspiration in respect of having a scalable impact on changing traveller behaviour that is aligned with sustainability goals and resulting in a viable business case with or without government subsidy. A particular focus is a recognition of the role that non-mobility service providers (NMSPs) can play in extending the stakeholder set that may well give MaaS a scalable future. Which we evidence from the findings of in-depth interviews with senior staff in a number of NMSP businesses. We also suggest that the generalisation away from multi-modality to multi-service supported by rewards and incentives that benefit non-transport providers, is likely to reveal a continuing role for uni-modal solutions that can also align well with a MaaS eco-system.