| Micromobility & MaaS
Are luxury cars MaaS compatible? Right Sampo
Micromobility may be the next big thing in MaaS, but cars
are still central to the concept, says Sampo Hietanen
A recent study by Inrix reveals that e-scooters
could cut urban journey times by 70%,
compared to travelling by car. If this is true,
there is a compelling case says Lime’s Alan Clarke
“to replace the car with the e-scooter for many
short trips” which he says “would also help to rid
our cities of toxic air”.
However, this begs an interesting question.
Where does the car fit into the MaaS model? Is it
a part of it, and if so, can you still own a car and
embrace the MaaS platforms?
Who better to ask than Sampo Hietanen, who
devised the concept of Mobility as a Service and
is CEO and founder of Maas Global? In his native
Finland, a MaaS service has been operational
in Helsinki since 2016. It currently boasts over
45,000 subscribers with customers opting for
one of three packages – an all-inclusive service,
another which grants users access to bus, bikes
and offers reductions to taxis and rental cars.
Finally, for those unsure whether MaaS is right for
them, there is also a pay-per-ride option.
While some regard MasS as a system that
is somewhat anti-car, Hietanen says that it is
much more nuanced than that. He believes, that
cars lie at the heart of the MaaS business model
“because that’s where the money is”.
He explains, “I’m not anti-car. Some people
using the MaaS system will give up their cars,
while others will keep them. As far as cars are
concerned, it is about value-based and not
production based-pricing. In Helsinki, where
the system is operational, we have seen that
increasing or decreasing the price of the service
by just a couple of euros has a massive impact
on whether people utilize it or not. We have
also observed that when we add an unlimited
weekend pass, which includes access to a car,
people think it is a great value-add because
essentially we’re selling them convenience.”
But even if Helsinki reaches a tipping point
where more people use MaaS services than own
cars, Hietanen believes that cars will remain at
the heart of the MaaS model.
“It’s easy to forget that when we buy a car,
we don’t simply choose the most reliable car to
get us from A to B. Sometimes emotion trumps
rationality. I think as MaaS models become more
advanced, it will not be about offering customers
a one-size-all fits solution. They need to have a
wide range of choice from a Kia at one end of the
spectrum to a Ferrari at the other. The idea is that
we sell you access to that Ferrari, but not the car
itself, which is a much more sustainable solution.”
Hietanen at the
Global Forum on
MaaS, held at the
ITS World Congress
in Singapore
in October
Modernising infrastructure
Apart from legal barriers there are
many other challenges to address to
fully enable e-scooter adoption in the
UK. Take for example, London’s
antiquated road network, for
example. Can it really accommodate
scooters, bikes, lorries and cars?
Daniel Isichei, of the Chartered
Institute of Transportation says that
to adapt to the challenge this presents
will require fresh thinking about
how we share limited road space.
Isichei comments, “It is becoming
apparent that very few of these
modes are happy sharing footway or
carriageway space. For example,
e-scooters could be too large and too
fast for pedestrian comfort, and too
small and too slow for driver
preference. One idea is to investigate
the development of a ‘third lane’ that
can accommodate traditional vehicles
such as bicycles and mobility
scooters; as well as electric bicycles,
‘hoverboards’ and electric scooters to
enable more space efficient modes to
thrive. To avoid difficulties over
regulations specifying individual
modes these (lanes) could be
delineated by speed, weight and
mass of the vehicle.”
Alan Clarke, director of policy for
Lime in the UK, which operates a
varied platform including e-scooters,
e-bikes and car-sharing services, says
that the key to integrating
micromobility services in a MaaS
system lies in building the
infrastructure.
“We believe that the segregated
cycle highways being built in central
London would be large enough to
also accommodate e-scooters, e-bikes
and pedal-assist bikes,” he says.
“We’re working with local
government in the 40 cities that
we operate in across Europe to
encourage legislators to build more
of these lanes.”
However, Clarke is keen to stress
that the vision of decentralized
transport, which many transport
gurus hold sacred, is at an embryonic
stage. He believes that the first steps
in laying down a MaaS model which
encompasses micromobility is “to
ensure that customers have the best
possible experience in terms of
quality, safety and rideability”.
“We’re also sharing our
knowledge, experience and
best practices with transport
authorities who are keen to
implement a micromobility
program in their cities,” he adds.
Micromobility and MaaS
If micromobility is to become part of
the MaaS jigsaw, then anonymized
and aggregated data will be crucial.
Both Bird and Lime have deployed a
GPS tracking system on their bikes,
which not only gives the real-time
location of every e-scooter, but
The idea is that we could sell you
access to a Ferrari, but not
the car itself, which is a much more
sustainable solution
Sampo Hietanen, founder and CEO, MaaS Global
Above opposite:
Richard Corbett at
the Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park in
London, where his
company Bird UK
is involved in an
e-scooter pilot
Left: Multimodality
is currently to
the exclusion of
e-scooters in London
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January/February 2020 Traffic Technology International
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