Introduction
The vision of a city in which Mobility as a Service (MaaS) offers citizens a ‘genuine alternative to the private car[1]’ is one towards which city planners are currently striving. There are generally two parts to the vision (put into practice by Ghent for example). First, reducing reliance on private cars through urban redesign (Barcelona’s superblocks, Paris’s 15-minute neighbourhood/city, Ghent’s ‘car free’ centre, etc.) and rethinking work, such as making more use of teleworking. Second, putting in place alternative transport options, including public and/or private options to create a multimodal network, in which transport is provided as a service. Of course, shifting away from the private car, which remains irresistibly convenient in cities designed for cars, is a challenge. Studies conducted in the United States show that the use of public transport drops by up to 90 percent when passengers must walk more than half a mile to the nearest transit stop[2]. To compete the transport offer, public or private, MaaS must therefore offer complete and convenient journeys. In turn, this means developing an integrated network, in which the ‘first mile/last mile’ can be serviced by emerging mobility options, from shared EVs to various forms of micro-mobility. The key to making MaaS work is network integration (offering seamless journeys) and this in turn requires that information – i.e., data - (e.g., routes, schedules, wayfinding apps[3]) is made available to citizens.
