UaaS App – University as a Service App: exploring the acceptability of a MaaS-like concept for a University community

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of UaaS App, i.e. “University as a Service” App, based on the well-known Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept, and explores the acceptability and willingness to use a digital application capable of providing transport (and other) services offered to a university community. The case study is the University of Catania (Italy), with about 40,000 students and 2500 employees. An online survey was conducted to analyse potential user mobility habits, propensity and preferences towards different services proposed by the app. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis was also performed to find clusters and correlations among variables and derive useful information on the target users of a MaaS-like service for a University community. Results show a general interest but also highlight some weaknesses that should be addressed to improve the efficiency of the services offered by a MaaS-like application.