How Much of Which Mode? Using Revealed Preference Data to Design Mobility As a Service Plans

Abstract

Mobility as a service (MaaS) seeks to integrate emerging shared mobility modes with existing public transportation (PT). Decisive to its uptake will be attractive subscription plans that cater for heterogeneous mobility needs. Research on willingness to pay for such plans has commenced, yet remains divided on a central question: how much to include of which mode, and how? Complementing previous research building on stated preference data, in this study revealed preference data is used to analyze the viability of different subscription plan components (PT, car-sharing, bike-sharing, taxi), modes of inclusion (budgets in minutes and season tickets) and subscription cycles (weekly, monthly). PT season tickets are found to be viable for 83% of all respondents. Interestingly, the viability of minute budgets of car- and bike-sharing depends on subscription cycle length. Using a monthly subscription cycle, car-/bike-sharing appears viable to include in a bundle for 35%/31% of all respondents, respectively. Using a weekly subscription cycle, these figures drop to 1.4%/0.4%, respectively, as weekly variation in demand is much higher than monthly variation. In contrast to many current MaaS pilots, taxi use remains too infrequent to include as recurring credit in MaaS plans. Rather, pay-as-you-go is the economically more sensible option for consumers. This research therefore challenges the idea of all-inclusive mobility flat rates and suggests a more modular design.