Mobility is not only an important factor for a strong economy, but a foundation for our entire modern lives. The car plays an important role in this, but it is not the only player. A sensible and successful mobility solution or Mobility Solution for the needs of the future must integrate and utilize all available means of transport on the road and rail, on water and in the air.
This brings to bear a concept that is already part of everyday life within the computer industry. Software as a Service (SaaS) - i.e., software as a service - is offered by numerous companies on the one hand and used by even more companies on the other. Applications are no longer purchased, but rented together with other services. Two major advantages of this concept are that users are always up to date with the latest software developments and can meet the costs through a monthly payment model instead of a one-time, high investment.
Applied to mobility, the experts talk about Mobility as a Service (MaaS) - mobility as a service. This concept has also been around for several years. Although no real breakthrough has been achieved here yet, it is becoming apparent that MaaS will become widely accepted in the future.
What does Mobility as a Service mean in detail?
In principle, MaaS means that mobility will no longer be tied to the ownership of a vehicle, but will be distributed among various transportation services. These include, for example, car-sharing services, public transport, ride-hailing and bikesharing, shuttle services, cabs, air and sea transport.
The term Mobility as a Service was coined and spread from there at the Aalto Business School in Helsinki, Finland. In a broader sense, it refers to the offer and use of various means of transportation. However, this alone does not adequately explain the principle, because in a narrower sense MaaS stands for software solutions based on specific platforms on which the services of several mobility providers can be bundled and used by users.
Such a software solution pursues several goals. It supports multimodal planning of individual user routes, direct booking of the required means of transportation, and cashless payment via an app on a smartphone, tablet, notebook, or desktop PC. Users of this Mobility Solution can therefore do without their own vehicle, although this is not ruled out.
In terms of today's individual traffic by car, the need for public parking space and the overall volume of traffic would be significantly reduced. Particularly in large cities and urban agglomerations, this would benefit all road users on the one hand and create space for other and more sensible projects on the other. For example, many parking spaces could disappear and the freed-up areas could be used to build housing, which is now scarce and expensive in all metropolitan areas.
Experts expect huge growth potential
Urbanization is a development that is advancing mightily around the globe. Current forecasts predict that around 70 percent of the world's total population will live in cities by 2050. Current mobility concepts cannot cope with this volume, because the daily chaos with endless traffic jams and drivers desperately searching for a parking space would multiply. The result would be a waste of living space and time that is superfluous - and that's not even counting factors such as environmental and climate protection or resource conservation.
So it's no great surprise when more than a few business and transport experts predict huge growth potential for the concept of Mobility as a Service. A study on the mobility of the future conducted in 2018 by Juniper Research, an English institute for market research and business development, may serve as an example. The study concludes that in 2023, the Mobility as a Service solution will generate a profit of around eleven billion dollars for participating companies worldwide, which corresponds to annual growth of more than 150 percent. In this context, it is important to bear in mind that 2023 is not a distant future, but practically already the present, and MaaS is still in its infancy. Growth will therefore continue to increase in the coming years and decades.
A look at the German market shows: Mobility solutions startups are benefiting in particular. In 2019 alone, there were investments in startups in the mobility sector amounting to around EUR 1.6 billion. This makes this sector of the economy the frontrunner for startup investments.
To what extent does the networking of the individual transport components play a role?
Public transport, car sharing, city bikes and cab services are an integral part of the Mobility as a Service concept. Local public transport must be further promoted. The 9-euro ticket in the summer of 2022 showed that it works, even though it was not yet an optimal solution. Transportation options in general and overall must be made more environmentally friendly and sustainable and move away from relying mainly on personal ownership of a vehicle. Appropriate measures are not least a basic prerequisite for achieving the climate targets set by governments in many countries.
A Mobility Solution in the sense of MaaS not only benefits the environment and the climate, but also each individual. Fewer traffic jams in cities, less noise pollution and exhaust fumes, cleaner air also mean a significantly better quality of life for every individual in the urban environment. Commuters can also be integrated into the concept. They leave their vehicles on the outskirts of the city and use the numerous alternative mobility options that already exist, such as Park & Ride.
For users, the measures will turn cities and metropolitan areas into smart cities, providing citizens with intelligent means of transportation while creating an equally intelligent or smart infrastructure. This type of Mobility Solution will change the way consumers think and act in the long term by offering a user-centric perspective and leaving outdated concepts.
The current situation and the perspective of MaaS
Users who already travel by various means of transport instead of just their own car still have to plan, book and pay for each individual transport - be it public transport, a car-sharing vehicle, a cab, e-scooter or city bike. In some cases, this involves a great deal of effort, which MaaS will make superfluous, because Mobility as a Service will cause a paradigm shift.
With an app that integrates all available means of transportation in a city as well as their payment, the user hardly has to worry about anything. There is no need to buy tickets, load cards, or pay individual fares. This saves time and ultimately money.
Mobility as a Service also has a social component. Instead of traveling alone in one's own car from A to B, from home to work or the nearest supermarket, MaaS brings people closer together by giving them access to a system based on community and meaningful sharing.
Conclusion
Transport experts largely agree that MaaS is a highly efficient concept, and not just in theory. Metropolises such as Singapore, Helsinki or London have already jumped on the bandwagon and are having very good experiences with it. Germany is only at the beginning, because the solutions available so far do not yet meet the demands and expectations of consumers. However, there are good approaches that are being driven forward by numerous start-ups and established corporations in the mobility sector.
Dwindling resources, environmental pollution, climate change and the immense space requirements of individual transportation by car call for innovative solutions for the future in order to maintain the status of today's mobility. MaaS is a good way to do this.
Image credit : © metamorworks #488929217 - Adobe Stock
