In the context of rising levels of congestion and its environmental impact, it is unsurprising that the efforts of multiple players have focused on finding ways to make travel, primarily in a city environment, more efficient. A catalyst for this change has been the principle of open data, which is where cities release as much data as possible about transport, allowing companies to tailor services to gaps in coverage.
From this initiative, the concept of MaaS (mobility as a service) has evolved. This is primarily conceived as a method of increasing public transit ridership and reducing traffic on the road, thereby enhancing the quality of life for citizens. While MaaS is not a new concept, it is rather an evolution of customers' mobility requirements and pricing models, joining disparate methods together in a cohesive whole.
MaaS solutions aim to improve the user experience and convenience in transport by offering a single account or application to provide different mobility services ranging from public transport (for example rail and metro services) to rental, as well as ridesharing services (for example Uber, Lyft, etc) and self-driving cars. The idea is that transit data is made public and is leveraged using data analytics to create new, responsive services.
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