Polis contributed to MaaS session at EC Digital Transport Days

Besides Polis, the other panellists in the MaaS session were representatives of UITP, Thales/UNIFE and the MaaS Alliance. The main messages coming from each of these panellists included:

• UITP: MaaS is about the integration of different collective and individual modes of transport but public transport needs to be at the heart of this. Partnership between the public and private sector is crucial for MaaS to succeed
• Thales/UNIFE: the ecosystem established by the IP4 programme of the Shift2Rail joint undertaking offers a good technical environment for creating a one-stop multimodal solution as it provides a framework for bringing together different long distance and first/last mile mobility providers based on open specifications and interfaces, without the need for integrated back office systems and commercial agreements.
• MaaS Alliance: the key ingredients for MaaS are a service providers market, roaming and open APIs and data access. For MaaS to succeed, the offer must be more attractive than owning a car.

The presentations were followed by a lively discussion with the audience. The main statements emerging from this discussion included:

• It is not possible to include every mode in a city in a MaaS offering
• The environmental impact of MaaS needs to be assessed
• The MaaS value proposition for the user needs to be more explicit.
• Value creation should happen incrementally over the longer term
• There should be no competition between modes, whether collective or individual, but rather cooperation
• In the event of disruption on longer distance trips especially, MaaS needs to provide assurances to the customer about trip completion, which may require reaching out to insurance companies
• To ensure MaaS accelerates sustainable travel (shift from car to public transport rather than sideways from car to taxi/car-sharing), incentives and disincentives should be built into the MaaS offering.

In terms of what role or action the EC should take in enabling MaaS to happen, the panellists recommended the following:

• Take advantage of the CEF programme to support the implementation of MaaS
• Facilitate the creation of a framework comprising different stakeholders
• Support the creation of technical enablers, based on commons specifications and interfaces, rather than a fragmented approach
• Support Member States in following the same process as Finland in terms of revising its transport code to support open data

For further information, contact: Suzanne Hoadley