More Than the Sum of Its Parts? The Finnish Public’s Perspectives on Mobility-as-a-Service and ITS

Paper in proceedings, 2017

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) offers a new perspective on organizing transport and implementing mobility service concepts, with anticipated positive impacts from changes in travel behavior and shifts towards more sustainable transport modes. The potential in MaaS lies within its capacity as a viable, servitised alternative to private car use. However, the successful deployment of MaaS, and its impacts, rests heavily on its ability to meet users’ need and expectations, and their willingness to modify behavior. This study investigates the Finnish public’s stated preferences for a set of scenarios that relate to different aspects of MaaS and/or ITS. Findings suggest that certain types of potential users may be more open to the changes in the transport paradigm that MaaS may entail or embrace, but it also elucidates problems associated with the assessment of user perspectives without real-world trials, whereby users can experiment with alternatives to private car ownership on a low-risk basis.