Mobility as a Service: Insights from pilot studies across different Italian settings
Italo Meloni, Giuseppe Musolino, Francesco Piras, Corrado Rindone, Francesco Russo, Eleonora Sottile, Antonino Vitetta
Abstract
• We explore the potential of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) through pilot studies in various urban contexts in Italy. • Evaluation methodologies, including the Technology Acceptance Model and surveys on revealed and intended preferences, were developed for the study. • This study serves as a crucial preliminary step for designing more comprehensive investigations and planning future MaaS systems in the examined areas. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has been tested in numerous cities and enables users to travel within an integrated system of collective and shared transport services, with a single travel package or bundle, giving them the ability to plan, book and pay for a trip using a unique technological platform. At this stage of the MaaS system experimentation, a detailed analysis on a small scale enables, through the understanding of the mechanisms governing travel choices, the planning of a MaaS service on a large scale that has the right flexibility to adapt to different territorial contexts. The paper reports the main findings of a study carried out as part of a national research project funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. Within this project, evaluation methodologies were developed (Technology Acceptance Model, Revealed Preferences and Intended Preference surveys), pilot surveys were conducted on samples of potential users, and the results were analysed and compared to assess the potential activation of a MaaS and to estimate its impacts on mobility. Two pilot experiments and an extended test, with a sample of almost 200 users, were carried out in different territorial contexts in Italy: the metropolitan areas of Reggio Calabria and Messina, the extra-urban area of Gioia Tauro and the urban area of the metropolitan city of Cagliari. The activities should be regarded as preliminary and indispensable stage for the design of more extensive investigations, as well as for the planning of a possible MaaS system in the areas examined.