MaaS Resource Center
Designing a MaaS System
MaaS systems can be built from many different components, technologies, and human systems. Coming up with a design that works for your community is paramount to a MaaS system’s long-term success. Below you will find information on how to assess the goals and priorities of your community, ideas on planning for the various goals and components of MaaS systems, and some ways to talk about MaaS with your community.
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What does it take to build a MaaS System?
1. Understanding Perspectives and Goals
Each stakeholder in a MaaS system has their own goals, whether that be for the MaaS project itself, other mobility projects, broader community, or personal goals. Ensuring that all of these are taken into account during the design process will help create a helpful MaaS system.
2. Planning for Projects and Roles
Second, MaaS initiatives involve project planning, potentially one project or multiple distinct projects that contribute to the overall initiative. This is the time to explore how to translate goals into actions. Whether planning for individual projects within your MaaS initiative or for the entire system itself, make sure you are planning for all of the various perspectives in your community.
It is important to delegate and communicate the various roles that community members, public agencies, private enterprises, and transportation providers will need to play in order to make any MaaS Initiative a success. Many MaaS system designs require coordination from multiple agencies, providers, and businesses, and need to work seamlessly for the community at large. It is important to design a resilient system that has clear responsibilities and roles to ensure success. Read through some of the roles listed below, and think through what roles will be needed in your system design.
3. Implementation and Phasing
Third, MaaS initiatives involve implementing the planned projects with achievable phases. Once actions and roles have been defined for individuals and the community, the public sector, and the private sector, the path toward implementation becomes clear. Ideally, all five levels of MaaS are reached and the five core elements of MaaS are achieved to the greatest possible extent.
Flexibility for the future is important to build into MaaS efforts. A MaaS initiative taking place over a period of three years may be followed by an additional initiative or phase that builds on the first—five years later the MaaS effort may be in a place that could not be understood fully during year one. That is because, over a five-year period, the limits of technology will change; the entities involved and their roles will change. The ultimate purpose of the effort could even change and go in a new direction. The concept of MaaS is simply a framework; the implementation of MaaS initiatives should adapt to fit within emerging realities over time.
Goals and Roles for MaaS Systems
As we now know, to build any MaaS system you need to understand the perspectives and goals of all involved, properly plan for the individual projects, and create an implementation and phasing plan. During each of those steps, it is critical to keep the goals of each stakeholder in mind. Those goals directly impact the roles each group will play when designing and implementing any MaaS system.
Individuals
Some goals may be:
- Easily find information on services and plan trips all in one place.
- Be able to remotely book rides for family who can't do so themselves.
- Schedule regular rides far in advance so you don't have to worry.
Some roles may be:
- Periodic consultations to ensure the project is meeting community goals.
- Prototype testing and providing feedback on design concepts.
- Provide support and community knowledge for the project.
Transportation Providers
Some goals may be:
- Single platform provides easy access and increased visibility of their services.
- Strengthening community support for services through coordination
- Allow partner organizations to book rides for their clients directly.
Some roles may be:
- Provide information on their service, capacity, and requirements.
- Choose and implement technology for coordinated transportation services
- Develop new services as transportation gaps are revealed
Community
Some goals may be:
- Ensure mobility for all, including older adults and individuals with disabilities.
- Reduce emissions and traffic congestion by promoting transportation alternatives.
- Improve the overall viability of the mobility system.
Some roles may be:
- Determine and convene the entities that will be involved in the MaaS system.
- Provide incentives to the public or partners to cement the success of the MaaS system.
- Manage physical infrastructure needed for the MaaS system.
Private Sector
Some goals may be:
- Use MaaS system to develop new goods or services.
- Create the platform for MaaS services to be aggregated and shared.
- Provide access to new technology developed in the private market
Some roles may be:
- Supply technology platforms that have been tested in other communities.
- Bear the risk (and benefits) of applying newly developed technology.
- Provide knowledge on developing new products or systems.