Promising groups for Mobility-as-a-Service in the Netherlands
The early adopters of the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform in the Netherlands will be people with hypermobile lifestyles. Healthy and active young people who use public transport, are concerned about the environment will use MaaS before older people of limited mobility, in poorer health and with lower income and education levels. These are the findings of a study of latent demand for MaaS, conducted by the KiM Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis on behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management's MaaS team.
It is highly likely that the profile of early adopters will differ from that of the majority or laggards. Therefore, the behaviour of the initial users cannot be extrapolated to the entire population. The less promising groups could be reached sooner by means of specific marketing efforts, extra services or special policy measures.
What is Mobility-as-a-Service?
MaaS is defined as a transport concept involving the use of a single digital platform to find, book and pay for trips offered by various transport service providers. The platform not only integrates the transport providers, but also the various transport modes. Such integration makes it easier to compare transport modes according to their travel times, costs, comfort levels, environmental impact and other aspects. MaaS users are people who have successfully used the MaaS app on multiple occasions to arrange trips via a variety of transport providers and modalities.
MaaS Potential Index
The KiM Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis conducted research aimed at determining the groups in Dutch society that are most likely to use MaaS in future. This was no easy task however, as we had to contend with a service that is still in its nascent state, and hence we could not directly determine people's interest levels. Consequently, we devised four indicators to determine a person's relative potential to use MaaS: Tech-savvy, Renting or Sharing, Multimodal, and Travel Information. To determine how people 'scored' according to these characteristics, we surveyed 1.547 people via a series of 25 statements and questions, with the subsequent findings expressed as a set of four indicators, called the MaaS Potential Index (MPI). A Lasso regression analysis was then used to link the four indicators to the respondents' most relevant personal characteristics. Furthermore, because our respondents had previously participated in the Netherlands Mobility Panel, we had access to substantial amounts of their personal background information.