Mobility as a service and socio-territorial inequalities: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Mobility as a service is a potential solution to mobility problems; however, it raises concerns about its relationship with socio-territorial inequalities (STIs). This paper contains a systematic literature review of real-world MaaS applications and their effects on STIs. From the principle of distributive justice, we adopted the Resources, Opportunities, Outcomes, and Wellbeing (ROOW) approach to assess cases. From 2009 papers on MaaS, we identified 20 that stood as real-world applications that considered equity impacts. Most studies were undertaken in Europe and Asia, neglecting countries in South America, Africa, and other low-income countries. They did not quantify the societal advantages of MaaS, while only a handful investigated the influence of MaaS over STIs. Results indicate that MaaS schemes contain at least three factors that may drive inequality: the lack of basic resources to enter the system, the systems’ limited geographic coverage, or MaaS users may simply not gain from the system’s intended accessibility benefits. In conclusion, MaaS could improve trip planning and access to new modes and low-density areas, but it is still perceived as expensive and only accessible to digitally literate people. This should be considered when defining MaaS governance, which remains (to date) underdeveloped, hindering private-public collaboration.