Mobility as a Service (MaaS) combines various modes of transportation, such as public transport, car-sharing, taxis, and bike-sharing, through smart services to facilitate easy and quick travel from A to B. Based on real-time information, you can easily reserve, book, and pay for transportation options. This development promotes the use of active mobility and public transport, reduces dependence on private cars, and lowers CO2 emissions.

MaaS offers convenience, flexibility, and freedom of choice, making it an attractive alternative to owning a car. The expected benefits of MaaS include reduced traffic congestion, increased efficiency, lower emissions, and enhanced safety. Four technological developments that support MaaS are digitalization, the preference for use over ownership, the development of smart transportation, and the energy transition, such as electric driving.

Technology is making life increasingly easier for many people. During the COVID-crisis, it has become clear that more and more people have become handy with the possibilities that are available because of technology. Think about remote working. Technology will also play an increasingly important role in mobility. Where you used to go to the station and look at the timetable to see what time the train would leave to your destination, this has changed in the recent years. Now you can check where and when the train is leaving in advance on different apps. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) apps ensure that you can look in advance at the travel options that are available and that you do not just find out at the station that the train is delayed or does not run at all. This makes travelling by public transport a lot easier. Not only travelling by public transport is arranged with apps, also parking your car is increasingly done by an app. It is easy to turn on the counter for parking costs in a parking app. This is arranged by linking the license plate of your car to the app, so the parking attendant can digitally see if the counter is running when someone is parked. This saves searching for a parking meter and deciding in advance how long you want to park in the particular parking lot. 

Right now, probably anyone has several apps on their phones to make traveling easier. One for train travel, another one for bus travel, another app for the shared car, another app for the electric scooter abroad and yet another app for parking the car, and so on. Meanwhile, everyone has more than enough apps and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain an overview of which apps work best for each individual. Everyone has their own preferences. For this reason, the new plan for a MaaS system in mobility has been devised. MaaS is the abbreviation for Mobility as a Service and can be seen as a single app in which it is possible to plan, book and pay for a trip. This means that ten different mobility apps are no longer needed on your phone, but it becomes possible to book the trip from A to B with one single application.

MaaS is seen as an important development in mobility, because of the convenience it brings to allow people to travel in other ways than just by their private car. By providing comfort, it becomes more attractive to use alternative travel modes and can contribute to making mobility more sustainable. A new MaaS platform makes travel more attractive to existing public transport passengers and new passengers. The needs of travelers are important to recognize. By properly responding to the needs of passengers, a MaaS system can offer a wide range of options and makes it attractive and easy for passengers to travel in different ways.

MoveYou has a MaaS platform and the knowledge needed to develop and use a MaaS system. Both a pétrolier can use this to extend his fuel card towards a mobility card and a mobility provider, who can make his app/card even more agile towards the future.