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3 Mobility-Enhancing Technologies, Concepts, and Early Experience
Pages 71-88

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From page 71...
... public policies can play in facilitating ICT platforms and in shaping the supply of transportation to meet that demand. These concepts support the potential roles of shared modes and public transit, singly and in combination, in reducing the externalities associated with single-occupancy vehicle (SOV)
From page 72...
... Although still mainly concepts, MOD and mobility management also include ICT as a central element along with ways that public policy can influence transportation supply and demand to benefit society. The committee chose to respond to the element of its Statement of Task that asked for consideration of the "ways that transit agencies have coordinated with the new mobility providers ...
From page 73...
... The app developers have stated that it can be profitable with between 3 and 5 percent of the eligible population using the app.4 This type of integration was enabled by the Finnish Ministry of Transportation, which passed legislation making it mandatory for all transit providers to allow access to their application programming interfaces and ticketing systems. In the first year of Whim's operation, users rode public transit more often than other city residents, with a 63 percent modal share compared to 48 percent citywide, despite making about the same number of average daily trips.
From page 74...
... transit agencies, including Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Portland's TriMet, are developing apps for trip planning that represent early-stage building blocks toward more robust MaaS platforms.13,14 The platforms available 6 Sochor, J., et al.
From page 75...
... regional jurisdictional boundaries and regional institutional complexities described in Chapter 1. Early International Experience with MaaS As a concept, MaaS is only 7 years old at the time of this writing, but the concept has spurred worldwide interest among government agencies, practitioners, and researchers.16 As of the end of 2019, at least 43 MaaS schemes had been trialed, piloted, or were under way as operational programs, primarily in Finland, Sweden, and across Europe, but also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.17 To date there has apparently been little interest in China, although many ridehailing companies there are advancing the sophistication of their user interfaces.18 Only initial interest in possible schemes has occurred in Japan.
From page 76...
... Appeal to Auto Owners A central premise of most definitions of MaaS is that the simplicity of access ing transportation services through an app will decrease consumer interest in owning one or more personal automobiles. This premise is based on several assumptions, including whether the convenience of purchased services matches that of personal automobiles.
From page 77...
... An open question is whether rural and regional applications are less important than ones offered in central cities because the externalities of auto use that MaaS is meant to address are most pronounced in these settings.29 Answers to these and other questions will emerge over time from ongoing experimentation, pilot projects, and innovation. Transit Agency Participation in MaaS Development in Finland and Europe Many regions, cities, and transit agencies across the European Union (EU)
From page 78...
... Austria Vienna's primary public transit operator, Wiener Linien, and the city's infrastructure company, Wiener Stadtwerke, jointly formed their own startup company, Upstream, in early 2016. Upstream is a MaaS platform that provides planning, payment, and access to a variety of mobility services in Vienna and the surrounding region.
From page 79...
... Other German cities are implementing variations of MaaS concepts as well. In 2019, the public transportation agency in Berlin, Germany's largest city, launched Jelbi, an app that merges more than 12 public and private mobility options including transit, shared vehicles, and on-demand 34 Wiener Linien and Upstream.
From page 80...
... In Hamburg, the primary transit provider, Hamburger Hochbahn, is creating mobility hubs near its train stations and stocking them with carsharing and bikesharing options. Mobility hubs make connections among modes simple and convenient and include staff to assist travelers in making connections or clear signage with guidance to travelers.40 Each of these mobility hubs reflects the needs and use patterns of the immediate area.
From page 81...
... The experience of the cities visited during the APTA study tour showed the incremental, building-block nature of progress over the past two decades: • Cities and regions have been working to provide bicycle infrastructure and improve the seamlessness of multi-modal travel for many years, including coordination of fares and routes across different transit providers; • Cities started integrating with shared mobility providers by first improving physical linkages (parking and mobility hubs) near transit; and • Next came integrated payment across modes through fare cards and monthly invoicing, which evolved into transit apps to facilitate trip planning and payment as smartphones have become widely used.
From page 82...
... Additional experience and evaluation will be needed to develop a fuller understanding of the appeal of MaaS beyond center city residents already inclined to rely on public transit for a considerable share of their trips. As illustrated in the APTA MaaS tour of cities in Austria, Finland, and Germany, transit agencies and cities have been enhancing the customer transit experience by providing parking for shared modes near transit agencies; integrating fares, schedules, and routes across regional transit agencies; and improving the quality, frequency, and speed of transit.
From page 83...
... Department of Transportation (USDOT) adopted MOD as an operational concept that links demand with supply through intelligent transportation systems and with an emphasis on public transit.49 The MOD Sandbox initiative described in Chapter 2 is a research and demonstration element of the USDOT's approach to MOD.50 It has been integrated into a broader R&D initiative, integrated mobility innovation, that also includes strategic research in transit automation and mobility payment integration (a topic addressed in the next chapter)
From page 84...
... FIGURE 3-1 Simplified Mobility on Demand operational concept. DEMAND Individual travelers O-D trip requests User needs and preferences Time and location Vehicle size/type needed Multi-modal transportation operations Management decisionsupport systems SUPPLY Public transit Private providers Facilities and vehicles Transportation information management systems
From page 85...
... In practice, however, MaaS platforms might evolve in ways that include multiple public or private MaaS providers in the same region.53 They therefore may not be so easily distinguished from the role of consumer-facing platforms in the MOD Operational Concept. A more important distinction with MaaS is that the MOD Operational Concept includes within it public policies and transportation system management and operations that are not included within the usual definition of MaaS, even though many countries promoting MaaS view it as supported by a broader set of public policies to reduce the externalities of personal transportation.54 MOBILITY MANAGEMENT As briefly described in Chapter 1, the committee's view of mobility management is also a holistic conceptualization of how transportation services can be provided and managed to serve consumers' travel needs while also serving social goals such as equity and sustainability.
From page 86...
... Many of these countries also have a broad set of policies and programs supporting public transportation and discouraging use of private automobiles. The MOD Operational Concept and the committee's formulation of mobility management share with MaaS the central role that ICT and smartphone apps can play in shaping the choices of consumers.
From page 87...
... MOBILITY­ENHANCING TECHNOLOGIES, CONCEPTS, AND EARLY EXPERIENCE 87 aspects of these approaches. The next two chapters describe a framework for mobility management that identifies points of leverage that local governments, transit agencies, and regional planning organizations can use to influence the future direction of personal transportation to serve both individual consumers and society.


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