Could Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Have a Role in an Integrated Public Transport Network in South African Cities?

Abstract

Mobility-as-a-Service otherwise known as MaaS (Hietanen, 2014) can be regarded as a shift away from personally-owned modes of transport towards mobility solutions that are consumed as a service. It involves combining transport services from public and private transport providers through a unified gateway that creates and manages trips. This paper looks at what capabilities are required for MaaS to be introduced, whether these capabilities exist in South Africa and what further could or should be done if MaaS is to enable integrated public transport networks in South African cities. The paper identifies the following as critical components for the introduction of MaaS: • A wide range of transport modes; • Enabling and supportive government legislation in the financial and transport sectors; • Majority of transport operators who share their operational data with third parties and allow third party service providers to bundle and sell transport services to the consumer; • Consumers who are willing and able to consume MaaS services as well as stakeholders who are not opposed to Maas Services. It concludes that with a supportive financial and transport regulatory environment, open data and open payment systems, MaaS can happen and contribute to integrating public transport in South African cities.