Do integrated mobility services have a future? The neglected role of non-mobility service providers: Challenges, and opportunities to extract sustainable transport outcomes

David A. Hensher and John D. Nelson

Transport Policy, 2025, vol. 163, issue C, 348-357

Abstract: For the last twenty years we have seen exponential growth in interest in developing ways in which we can offer to the market a unified multi-modal ecosystem that is so appealing that individuals would abandon their traditional ways of making travel choices. The new ways are guided by offers through a digital platform either through pay as you go or a subscription to a package that aligns with more sustainable travel behaviour activity. Branded as Mobility as a Service (MaaS), we have to date seen little success despite the continuing euphoria in many settings. This paper is the result of a significant amount of research and practice designed to find ways to give MaaS a chance in the market, reflecting on what we see as the key features of any future MaaS aspiration in respect of having a scalable impact on changing traveller behaviour that is aligned with sustainability goals and resulting in a viable business case with or without government subsidy. A particular focus is a recognition of the role that non-mobility service providers (NMSPs) can play in extending the stakeholder set that may well give MaaS a scalable future. Which we evidence from the findings of in-depth interviews with senior staff in a number of NMSP businesses. We also suggest that the generalisation away from multi-modality to multi-service supported by rewards and incentives that benefit non-transport providers, is likely to reveal a continuing role for uni-modal solutions that can also align well with a MaaS eco-system.

Keywords: Mobility as a service; Mobility as a feature; Non-mobility service providers; Incentives and rewards; Digital badge; Challenges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.01.029

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