Procuring Mobility as a Service: Exploring dialogues with potential bidders in West Sweden

Paper in proceeding, 2017

Following a political order in late 2014, the regional public transport organisation (PTO) in West Sweden has been on a quest to procure Mobility as a Service (MaaS). In spring 2016, they invited potential bidders to discuss the terms for such procurement through a 'request for information’ process. 65 actors participated in a start-up meeting, and 30 explicated their thoughts in subsequent individual meetings with the PTO. Based on participatory observation of these meetings, this paper explores which aspects that frequented the discussions. It identifies seven aspects that potential bidders believe are important to consider when procuring MaaS: cross-sector collaboration, allocation of responsibilities, governance, business models, target groups, service design and technical integration. Moreover, the analysis suggests that MaaS (in this context) is premature for public procurement at this point in time. Instead more collaborative forms of public-private partnerships seem to be needed to drive the development.