Mobility as a Service: Perspectives for Large-scale Operations

Dear Colleagues,

MaaS—Mobility as a Service, as is often the case in innovation, is still mostly case- or pilot study-based, with long-term impacts on travel behaviors yet to consolidate. To upscale operations, several issues are still far from being fully addressed, from regulations and taxation frameworks to funding mechanisms. Lack of suitable business models and uncertainties in creating an actual market are also to be considered. Moreover, the observation that the majority of the reported cases where MaaS is in place is in Northern Europe infers context maturity, i.e., national or local long-enforced transport policies to disincentivize the use of passenger cars, and efficient multimodal supply.

This seems to suggest that MaaS might not be suitable for any place, as mature or progressive mobility policies, multi-integration options, and willingness to pay appear to be the prerequisites for its implementation. At the same time, MaaS can be an appealing and promising solution wherever there is the need to rebalance modal split and orient the demand towards collective modes.

To switch from the general hype MaaS is associated with, or avoid its vision as a “niche” service or just for the more affluent, this Special Issue shall explore the possibility to move from case-study investigations to more structured analyses and theorizations to promote a comprehensive approach to MaaS implementation, highlighting regulatory barriers or problems; typical cost structures and magnitude of expenditures to operate MaaS ecosystems (with a focus on less well-known but relevant items such as insurance, media, etc.); funding; bundles types and the possibility of including micromobility modes; rail service potential; private vs. public vs. PPP management; policy implications in the user’s transition from passenger to customer; limitations of MaaS among the non-web-literates (in terms of equity and inclusiveness); gender issues; measured environmental benefits from MaaS; customers’ motivations related to environmental consciousness; technical challenges.

Cross-case or comparative studies will be particularly welcome, to highlight non-site-specific requirements and performance to implement MaaS.

The special issue titled “Mobility as a Service: Perspectives for Large-Scale Operations” is aimed at shedding new light on MaaS studies, by shifting the analysis from study cases, so popular in literature, to comprehensive theorizations. This implies focusing on less investigated issues such as the institutional domain to develop MaaS, integration feasibility and affordability, problems of social inclusion, and expected vs. achieved environmental benefits. The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect a set of comparative studies to provide general references in contexts where MaaS seems difficult to operate and enable larger-scale operations where MaaS is already operational, within the scope of innovative policies specifically targeted to increase sustainability in cities.

Prof. Dr. Maria Vittoria Corazza
Dr. Takeru Shibayama
Prof. Dr. Ana Pejdo
Guest Editors

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• MaaS
• MaaS maturity
• target users
• cost structures
• MaaS bundles
• regulatory frameworks
• equity