MaaS platform features: An exploration of their relationship and importance from supply and demand perspective

Abstract

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) aims to offer travelers easy and convenient access to transportation modes via a joint digital channel, often in a mobile application. MaaS has the potential to fundamentally change the way we commute as it encourages a more sustainable travel behavior. MaaS, as a business model, is an innovative concept that integrates a variety of these solutions and can significantly change the mobility environment by encouraging sustainable travel behavior. Despite the existing initiatives and efforts toward MaaS solutions, there is still no consensus on the essential features of MaaS platforms for actors from the supply and demand sides. This study explores the critical features of MaaS platforms from the perspective of mobility service providers - MSP (i.e., supply-side) and travelers (i.e., demand-side). We collected data via interviews with mobility experts for the supply side and a survey for the users' side. Based on a Gaussian Graphical Model, our results show that optimizing the number and use of the vehicles and appropriate data handling are the essential features of a MaaS platform for the MSPs. For the travelers, although retrieval of personal information and enhancing services, such as suggestions on local events and concert tickets, are expected, they are considered less significant. Our study provides insights into the features of MaaS platforms through synthesized and prioritized features -including their relationships-which would be helpful both for research and practice.