Exploring the potential adoption of Mobility-as-a-Service in Beijing: A spatial agent-based model

Abstract

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) has gained increasing worldwide popularity in the transport industry. However, it remains unclear how MaaS might diffuse over time and across space at the micro-scale. In response, we developed a spatial agent-based model to explore MaaS adoption and subscription (SABM-MaaS) in Beijing, China, which was based on the empirical findings derived from questionnaire survey data collected in Beijing in January 2020. In particular, we designed four MaaS plans, including pay-as-you-go, monthly, season (spanning three months), and yearly subscription plans, to observe which plan would be adopted by users. The results of the reference scenario revealed that the monthly plan (with a 20% discount) was the most prevalent, with almost one-fifth of agents adopting it, and it was followed by pay-as-you-go, season, and yearly plan. Moreover, we also set up several “what-if” scenarios to explore MaaS packages with different discount offerings, offering only one type of MaaS plan, and varying the intensity of MaaS advertisement. The findings also discovered that users still preferred the monthly subscription and pay-as-you-go options over long-term plans. Furthermore, while a strong intensity of MaaS advertisement had a substantial positive impact during the early stages of MaaS release, it did not sufficiently accelerate overall MaaS adoption and diffusion in the long run. The research outcomes provide valuable insights for the MaaS companies, multimodal transport operators, and demand-responsive transport planners in making better decisions regarding MaaS promotion, price and discount strategies, and shared mobility service planning.