Absolutely. Changing behaviours is hard, but it’s possible. While behavioural change can be driven by intrinsic factors, such as motivation and capability, it can also be influenced by external factors like opportunity. And that’s where MaaS comes into play: many of us want to live in a greener world, where air quality and global warming are no longer a concern. To make this a reality, we need easy access to alternative modes of transportation and relevant information about which alternatives are available at any given moment. The lower we set the barriers to utilizing those alternatives, the more likely it is that residents of urban areas can satisfy their mobility needs using alternative modes of transportation, thus contributing to the attainment of sustainability goals.
Our research at Mobimeo shows that users of urban mobility have very complex decision criteria when it comes to choosing their favourite transportation mode. Some of the factors that influence decision-making are control, efficiency, reliability, comfort, safety and flexibility.
A successful MaaS platform will enable users to evaluate their alternatives with the relevant information they need to make a choice. Moreover, through the integration with mobility service providers and technological partners like payment services, the benefit goes beyond just being correctly informed, but also making sure that trips can be booked effortlessly and navigated with peace of mind.
I certainly think so, yes. At least for the mobility sector, MaaS can play a big role in users achieving their personal sustainability goals. MaaS enables users to switch to greener modes of transportation, keeping for example their carbon footprint and the respective land use in mind. Of course, there is room for further development in the future. We want to give users concrete indicators within the apps to help them make an even more informed decision when it comes to choosing the most environmentally friendly way to get from A to B.
From the very beginning, Mobimeo has doubled down on providing a contextual experience with its products. A good example of one of these features is the Live Navigation, which accompanies users through unfamiliar routes, telling them when to get on, when to get off, whether to change modes or perhaps consider alternative routes as disruptions happen. Another example of a contextual experience is the Park + Ride feature, which responds to the needs of users while they commute into the city, providing relevant information not only on the fastest or most economic routes, but also on the probability of finding parking spots to promote switching modes - from cars to public transport.
*Both features described above can be found in the Mobility Stuttgart App, which we developed for S-Bahn Stuttgart. Check it out: https://mobimeo.com/en/use-case-mobility-stuttgart/
The interviewee
Marcelo Savignano has been working at Mobimeo as Product Analytics and currently (interim) Research & Analytics Lead for two years. He and his team are responsible for the generation, aggregation and evaluation of data. Thereby they lay the basis for Mobimeo’s user-centric product design.
