Mobility-as-a-Service: a new approach to mobility
Car-sharing, ride-hailing, bike-sharing and pop-up buses are just some of the on-demand mobility services gaining a foothold. Mobility-as-a-Service is changing the way people get around cities all over the world.
Mobility is undergoing a radical change, mainly in urban environments. As the population density of cities increases over the next few years, the availability of parking and room for traffic to circulate will decrease.
Given these changes, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is gaining in popularity. This vision of mobility shifts the focus from the ownership to the usage of a vehicle, integrating various transport options on dedicated digital platforms. Analysts estimate that by 2023, MaaS services will replace more than 2.3 billion car rides.
Integrating public and private transport
This is bolstered by the fact that an increasing number of people are choosing to forego purchasing their own cars or bikes in favour of a new concept that seamlessly integrates private and public transportation options, allowing users to easily reserve and pay for their ride through mobile devices.
MaaS was introduced to the wider audience in Helsinki in 2014 by a Finnish student, Sonja Heikkilä, who is now part of the ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab team. The vision took a complete form in her work, following a series of discussions and ideation among transport specialists and the Finnish government
Since then MaaS has gone global and now constitutes a vision for future mobility where we are able to use multiple travel modes seamlessly through one point of contact - our smartphone.
The Citymove app
ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab is working towards this vision by launching mobility services such as BeRider, a zero-emission scooter-sharing service. The project joins two car-sharing services — Uniqway and HoppyGo - in its growing mobility portfolio.
Another example is the Citymove app, which calculates the best route, in terms of cost and time, for travelling around a city and compares suitable modes of transport.
Launched in Prague, it consolidates mobility services offered by the city’s transport authority as well as services offered by private firms such as bike-sharing, scooter-sharing and ride-hailing. All services can be booked directly through the app which also features parking payments, tickets for public transport and other features, removing the need for multiple apps on your phone.
Source: ŠKODA