Power to the passengers

Talk of reducing road traffic at the same time as improving the mobility provision usually means the topic of "Mobility as a Service" (MaaS).

As cities and urban life are constantly evolving, mobility and behaviour patterns develop together with them. As with many other services, people expect mobility services that are based on their needs. An EU-wide project on this issue has therefore now also been initiated: IP4MaaS.

IP4MaaS is coordinated by UITP and it aims to promote the introduction of MaaS programmes by the EU. Available MaaS technologies are analysed and tested here and the goal of this project is to lay the foundation for development of a standard system for the European market. This application should allow passengers to purchase a ticket for the entire journey, using various modes of transport. The customer should be able to decide how to travel where, and the application of this should be easy and straightforward.

“The implementation of MaaS is beneficial to all stakeholders in the mobility sector: for users, it offers a complete and simple way of getting from A to B; for cities, it is helpful in order to shift travel behaviour towards more sustainable models; and for operators, it brings more customers and therefore increased revenue” (Umberto Guida Senior Director of Knowledge and Innovation at UITP).