Critical mass for MaaS – Debunking Myths

Abstract

The advent of MaaS is still in the future. This paper discusses why and identifies some myths about MaaS and how to debunk them.One myth is that each city should have its own MaaS implementation.When discussing with public transport and other mobility actors a set of myths also flourish: The MaaS agent takes over ownership of customers, the MaaS agent increases cost of sales, the MaaS agent preys on existing sales volume, MaaS agents will not increase sales of mobility services and finally, the MaaS agent will make competing mobility service offerings visible and comparable.Finally, the paper introduces why a smart city can benefit from avoiding a city centric MaaS procurement to simply enable MaaS.The real competition is not between the individual mobility service providers but between the mobility as a service ecosystem and the formidable competitor for mobility: The private car.