Urban Demand Responsive Transport in the Mobility as a Service ecosystem: its role and potential market share

Abstract

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is entering the transportation market. MaaS aims at the full integration of the existing transportation services and it offers tailored mobility packages to the user. In MaaS ecosystems, on-demand services play an important role as complement to public transport due to their flexibility. However, to date, most attention has been placed on individual on-demand services. This study focuses on Demand Responsive Transport (DRT): collective on-demand services. Using an on-line survey, we analysed the characteristics of the respondents who chose different modes of transport among their selected modes. Results find a distinctive pattern in the willingness of users to use different modes, with different levels in what could be considered as a multimodality ladder. The different rungs of it would be: 1st car (if available), 2nd public transport, 3rd DRT and 4th taxi-like services. This way, a person standing on the third rung would include car, public transport and DRT in their consideration set, but not taxi. This finding suggests that, if implemented in the right way, DRT services can attract a larger number of users than taxi-like services, especially in a MaaS ecosystem where initial barriers to try this service can be lessened.