Mobility as a Service (MaaS) integrates various forms of transport and transport-related services into a single, comprehensive, and on-demand mobility service. MaaS offers end-users the added value of accessing mobility through a single application and a single payment channel (instead of multiple ticketing and payment operations).
To meet a customer’s request, a MaaS operator hosts a diverse menu of transport options, including (but not limited to) public transport, active modes such as walking and cycling, ride/ car/bike-sharing, taxi, and car rental or lease, or a combination thereof. MaaS aims to be the best value proposition for users, societies, and the environment.
The Smart team is exploring how MaaS solutions could offer more sustainable travel options and improve people’s lives in and around Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and beyond.
This work includes:
- Working with local bus operators to see if they can make their data available to other third parties, so they can begin to use it to develop new tools to encourage bus use.
- Carrying out an audit of transport data available to councils that can be used to augment the bus data, thereby creating smarter and richer applications.
- Investing in the development of a free-to-use, multi-operator, multi-modal travel app MotionMap, using real-time and timetable data to more accurately predict journey times.
- Making the data collated on the Intelligent City Platform (iCP) widely available for re-use to really encourage a market for new apps and travel planning tools to develop Mobility as a Service.
- Researching options for integrated ticketing allowing users to pay easily pay for travel through debit cards, mobile phones and travel cards.
In March 2021 the team worked with City Science on an Innovate UK MaaS project, and as part of the work a survey was created to help with the research needed to shape the future of transport and mobility (which is your ability to get from A to B).
Smart Ticketing
The Smart team has worked with transport consultants ARUP to investigate how more people might be encouraged to use public transport if they could use a single ticket, which could be bought online or cashless to cover their journey.
The findings showed that travellers in Greater Cambridge have more ticketing options than other parts of the country including smart cards, season tickets, mobile apps and online sales. Contactless ticket payment is already being rolled out by Stagecoach and sales of PlusBus combined rail and bus tickets are second highest in the country.
Fully integrated ticketing solutions using new technology are still some way off due to economies of scale, but could be introduced county-wide in future by linking to regional or national systems such as TfL (Transport for London).
Ticketless travel also supports plans for the future use of intelligent mobility including autonomous vehicles and last mile pods.
Read the ARUP Integrated Ticketing Feasibility Study from April 2017 and the Greater Cambridge Partnership Integrated Ticketing Study prepared by PJ Associates working with ALCO Consulting from May 2019.
