There are other similar terms which have become popular recently, like Transport as a Service (TaaS). So we should first differentiate between the concepts of "transport" and "mobility." Whereas the first is much more associated with supply, infrastructure, the vehicle, or the transport of goods, the second has a more human side and is much more demand related. Mobility is usually defined as people’s ability to move through physical space. Therefore, a commodity cannot be "mobile" by itself, but a person can.
Moving away from the idea that mobility is either a private, personal matter for each user or a public service, both concepts are now being hybridized. Characteristics that, until now, were alien to public transport services, like vehicle ownership, shared use, pay-per-use, or different subscription types, are now becoming mobility services offered by private companies. For example, service providers for shared scooters, bicycles, or even vans to go to work. Taken together, they act as an alternative to the private car.
Looking back, and given that shared mobility has historically been linked to public transport, most large European cities already have a solid transport infrastructure capable of moving hundreds of thousands of people every day. For this reason, the platforms that integrate these services, which can be private or public, must have real-time data on the location of each vehicle, the availability of seats, or the time required to transition from one vehicle to another.
MaaS is, therefore, very disruptive and positive, especially since it works through data interconnection. And this is the most important part: open knowledge will lead to more efficient use of existing or future transport networks. Ultimately, in a shared and combined way, MaaS will lead us to a much more inclusive, efficient and sustainable model of transport than our current one.
27.01.20
Munich Airport rolled out its new corporate shuttle service ShuttleMe which is based on Shotl’s on-demand mobility platform. This service represents a new and improved way for employees to move between multiple spaces at the airport site.
29.08.22
This month we chat with Benjamin de la Peña, CEO of US-based Shared-Use Mobility Center, a public-interest organization working to replace car-centric transportation with people-focused shared mobility to fight climate change and promote equity.
27.04.22
Through Shotl’s software technology, a pilot test for on-demand sustainable transportation is being conducted in the city of Kawasaki that is helping to solve the problem of mobility in Japan’s densely-populated cities.