Addressing the challenges of Mobility-as-a-Service one element at a time

I do not wish to portray MaaS as a trendy ‘travel’ option whilst the rest of us continue to travel around in our cars. The biggest challenges that the UK government/devolved governments face is that everyone is very attached to their own personal transport mode (such as the car) and very little would persuade us change.

In terms of the big political issues, we need not look any further than across the English Channel to France, with President Emmanuel Macron and the gilet jaune movement protesting against living standards and the cost of fuel. In France, the price of fuel has increased between 18-20 per cent in the past two to three years, while unemployment sits at around 10 per cent. Fuel poverty is a great threat to modern western lifestyles; we are so dependent on the stuff that asking us not to use it – or to completely change our lifestyles (and this next bit is key) without offering a viable alternative – is not going to wash.

As people, we need a roof over our head, food in our stomachs and an occupation that challenges us and allows us to be rewarded with money. Modern lifestyles can be easily derailed without access to our own transport. The government terms it ‘social mobility’ – not a phrase meaning we are using transportation to visit friends, rather a person or family’s ability to move between social strata based on their social/economic situation.

I could write all day about the pitfalls of this for people that live in certain locations, but this would be a cheap shot that dismisses what the government is trying to achieve. What I want to address is how technology can help deliver MaaS.

Luxembourg’s free transport conundrum

Our friends in Luxembourg are keen to show the way forward by making all public transport completely free. In an article published in the Guardian, it seems that the administration of this small country of 2590km² has the same challenges as the rest of the world; ensuring people can get around quickly, easily and cost-effectively. What struck me was that the cost of collecting and regulating fares seemed to be high, and the simplest solution was to just abolish ticketing altogether.

In a first world country like Luxembourg, this may be achievable. Taxes fund the operation of the transport network and makes the operation viable, but can Luxembourg keep up the quality of its public transport to make it an attractive proposition?

Luxembourgers take the view that public transport is operating for the national ‘good’ and therefore all parties must pay for its operation.

Dealing with the last-mile problem

For all discussion to the contrary, public transport in 2019 is actually quite good. We have regular buses, trains, trams and boats that get us all to places that are at the very least close to where we want to go, but not actually to our home, place of work or the friends/family we want to visit. Let’s take the humble bus as an example; across the UK, most of the bus services are subsidised by local government (county/district councils). However, local governments have had their grants from the central government cut on an annual basis since 2008, meaning that non-essential or statutory services have been cut. Caught in the middle of this are the bus companies (commercial organisations) who have had their grants from local councils cut.

On a microcosm, my local bus between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh has been cut from an hourly service to a two-hourly service due to council funding cut backs. There is no bus that arrives in Berwick-upon-Tweed before 9.30am, so if I relied on the bus service, I could only work in Dunbar or Edinburgh. I would have to leave work and catch the last bus home at 6.30pm. It makes the service unattractive (especially if I must be at work in Newcastle for 8.30am in the morning). So, I choose the car to start my journey to the local railway station and continue my journey on the train.

Although bus companies are independent and can run wherever they deem a service is needed, they are still bound to provide certain statutory services. For example, where train lines were closed in the 1960s’ “Reshaping of Britain’s Railway” under the infamous Richard Beeching, it is still a requirement to run replacement bus services that mirror those former train line services – over 40 years after the train service left. Those train lines failed because they cost too much to run and were used too little, and now, bus services are going the same way – there are empty and near-empty buses travelling on poorly used routes; the car is sure to win out here when passengers are given the choice. If you cannot provide a service that the travelling public actually want, then expect it to fail financially.

Transportation services must change to meet demand, but people’s needs also vary depending on location. For example, if you live in an urban location, transportation is an easy commodity – cheap, quick and regular. The further you live from a urban centre, however, the worse the services get.  

Technology improves this scenario because social mobility and the ability to do your job means that you don’t always have to travel to a location to perform your work. It is envisaged that some public transport providers will cease trading if subsidies are cut any further, and so in step would small community projects such as East Riding Community Transport Scheme. Technology allows you to book a ride from your house to either your destination or next transport interchange. It should allow you to pay (either by using an ITSO-compliant smartcard or via mobile payment technologies) as well as integrate ticketing options from multiple modes of transport (e.g. bus and train).

Commercial partners

Current UK (and European) policy says that transportation needs are devolved and that private companies offer better value for money than the old-style transportation cooperatives or government-run organisations. To that effect, various MaaS partnerships have sprung up to provide solutions to the country’s growing transportation needs. These groups are a mixture of transport companies, transport executives, government bodies and technology partners. A growing issue is that with devolved transport (and devolved governments), you cannot always get one answer or policy on how to setup these groups, how they will operate and what their funding sources will be among other things. A typical search on Google will show you groups and partnerships in many parts of the UK. The government needs to give direction on what its end aims are, and help in the process of shaping and implementing an initial trial service, as well as bringing the concept to the attention of the public.

Environmental concerns

The discussion around these issues means very little if it is not followed by plans that carry real meaning and have a real impact. As budgets tighten (at least in the UK), the environmental message of MaaS could potentially be lost. The environment isn’t an issue that crosses the mind of most members of the public when they travel; if their old, polluting vehicle can get them to their place of work for only a small fee, that’s good enough. However, if we do not improve the environment, we will all end up victims of the changing climate around us. It’s not an attractive message to have to peddle, especially when it doesn’t affect most people on the ground, but the increase in extreme weather events seen globally are a result of the increased heat in the atmosphere – these issues do affect us.

People are frightened by both change and the effects of change. A sudden catastrophic change in the world’s climate will be even more traumatic if we don’t start discussing this now. Our leaders need to be strong and show resolve in helping us all to change our travel patterns. At the moment, it is estimated that between 25-26 per cent of all global emissions are caused by transport.

Can millennials save the day?

The car has had its day and it is millennials are showing us the way forward. Most millennials have an inconsistent income and are shunning learning to drive because it is expensive to own a car and insurance premiums are excessive for that age group. In 2017, it was revealed that in the last 10 years there has been an 18 per cent drop in people passing their driving tests. Public transport has changed; in 2017 the UK government showed that there was a huge increase in the use of public transport; the purchase of railway discount cards had increased, as had the number of people using trains. In the last couple of months, a new national rail discount card for 26-30 year old people was released, so the government is clearly trying to promote the use of public transport by offering a third off all rail fares to this age group.

MaaS as a practical experience

It is going to take time to change public opinion and gain attention; wouldn’t “MaaS Transport” be a more catchy name than simply MaaS?

Joining up several diverse ideas and concepts is a great way forward, but we need to be shown how to do this, and families and individuals shown how they can change their habits. We need support from employers to help make those changes and encourage people to use integrated transport.

Public transportation and MaaS is a national service

Public transport should be for everyone and we need to break down any barriers to entry. The concern is that whilst people are staying relatively socially mobile, there are gaps at the poorer-end of the population to allow people to travel from A to B. Even as I write this, UK rail fares have gone up 3.1 per cent across the board. For 10 years, rail fares have increased year-on-year and calls for the re-nationalisation of the UK’s rail network keep on getting louder; these calls mask an underlying desire to see public transport costs as a whole overhauled. The costs are not consistent per kilometre or mile, not are they shared evenly across the population; often, people who really need and rely on transportation are the ones who pay the most for it.

For MaaS to succeed there will need to be full transparency of each and every fare. This transparency is difficult at the moment as most public transport companies are in private hands and commercial agreements exist, which cannot be divulged to the public. A price is just that – a price. Competitive operations of most routes do not exist because there is not enough demand to justify having two different companies operate one line.

All-in-all, MaaS is an opportunity too good to miss, but the push to make it work will be difficult. People need to be shown the benefits, how it can apply to their lives, the environmental benefits and how little the cost of using the transport would be.

Public transport would need to improve as a result, because ageing and polluting public transport still exists in many locations across the UK. People will start using MaaS as a transportation model if the UK can:

1. Keep transport reliable (it turns up when it says it will)
2. Keep it clean and tidy (regular cleaning)
3. Keep the cost of using it sensible and fair (fares should be shared across the population and be fair)
4. Keep the costs open and transparent
5. Keep transport flexible if things go wrong (make restitution and provide an alternative). 

Public transport as a whole is a power for good in a country, helping to improves people’s prospects and the nation’s wealth.