Sustainability driven MaaS for rural areas

Abstract

Good transport services are crucial for sustainable development in rural areas. This paper presents a sustainability driven Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solution specifically designed for rural contexts. Our research focuses on identifying the transport planning needs of sparsely populated rural areas. We have developed and evaluated a transport planning tool that incorporates optimization technology while considering environmental factors. The tool offers new ways of interacting with the environmental optimization process, and our results suggest that it is beneficial for both policymakers and transport operators. The requirements and validation results we have identified could inform the design of MaaS planning tools for rural areas, especially in sparsely populated regions with limited transport resources and considerable distances to cover.