The MaaS Paradigm

This chapter explains what MaaS – ‘Mobility as a Service’ – actually means. The difference is largely caused by difference in the objectives for MaaS as perceived by the different actors involved. To the manufacturer of automobiles, some may now see or be advised that MaaS can redesign parts of his business model away from selling vehicles to drivers, to selling ‘ride‐hailing’ services to provide links in a MaaS journey, or indeed the whole journey. From an architectural perspective, a typical MaaS paradigm from the perspective of the public transport/transit service provider model, or the independent ‘broker’ model, the system architectures are similar. Many planners/social engineers are relying on the MaaS Apps to change behaviour, just because the MaaS apps are created. In the short term, so long as Covid‐19 remains controlled only by social distancing and sanitisation, the concept of MaaS is on hold.