Mobility landscapes: Mobility as a Service customer impact trial

Private vehicle dependency in Australia is causing increasing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. To decarbonise the transport system, alternative service models such as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) can reduce private vehicle dependence and shift transport needs to more efficient, greener modes.

However, research gaps exist to prove MaaS’ contribution to decarbonisation and modal shift across different customer segments and mobility landscapes. This project aims to address this by delivering a real-world MaaS product for transport users at selected sites on the Gold Coast.

This project will compare customer sets, mobility landscapes, and how MaaS impacts modal shift, focusing on decarbonisation and congestion reduction.

Participants

• Department of Transport and Main Roads (Queensland)
• University of Queensland
• Queensland University of Technology
• City of Gold Coast
• Griffith University

Project background

As a result of Australia’s strong dependence on private vehicles Australians live with ever-increasing congestion and the challenge of decarbonisation where fossil fuel dependent vehicles continue to dominate the vehicle supply market.

As Australia faces the task of decarbonising its transport system, there are alternate models of fulfilling transport demand like Mobility as a Service (MaaS). This multi-modal transport product is contended to reduce private vehicle dependence via shifting transport needs to more efficient and greener modes of transport. Thus, this project explores reducing congestion and accelerating the decarbonisation of the transport sector via mode change.

There is a substantial and growing literature about MaaS as a defined digital solution that combines multiple transport services, enabling users to plan, book and pay for journeys in an integrated one-stop service. From its initial emergence, however, there have been many iterations and aspirations of what MaaS can do. This has been previously highlighted by some very lofty ideals within the transport sector, but with a winner-take-all approach. In summary this has meant that a fundamental understanding of customer behaviour, community intentions, and evidence-based decision making has not been at the forefront of transport policy for MaaS.

However, there has been some work in considering MaaS from an evidence-based approach. Most recently, iMOVE, the University of Queensland (UQ), and Department of Transport and Main Roads (Queensland) and delivery partners established and tested the existence of a sustainable business model for MaaS under the ODIN PASS: A Mobility as Service trial at UQ project. Growing to become Australia’s largest MaaS trial, ODIN PASS sees staff and students of UQ’s St Lucia campus use a real-world, real-money, multi-modal, MaaS product. As that project comes to an end in July 2024, there are opportunities to leverage the ODIN PASS platform to explore other crucial markets for MaaS.

Significant gaps remain within the research to prove MaaS’ contribution to decarbonisation and modal shift across different customer segments and mobility landscapes. Partners believe there is the need for further testing of MaaS’ impact on the transport system and economy as a whole. Thus, informing and predicting MaaS’ impact on the transport system ultimately will inform if MaaS may be a solution to more sustainable transport beyond private car use.

In addition, tangible technology trials are vital to inform project partners about customer acceptance of novel solutions like MaaS. These solutions need to be sustainable to inform partners about their support for MaaS in the long-term.

This project represents a more complete, locally relevant case study to better inform project partners and communities about a seamless and sustainable MaaS solution. This includes an evaluation of its benefits in reducing congestion, carbon emissions and dependence on private vehicles.

Preliminary analysis conducted by City of Gold Coast has identified a preferred location of the Health and Knowledge Precinct at Southport that meets the needs of the trial. The location has both a substantial customer base, with both health and education sector representation, and reasonable but under-used public transport services.

Bringing partner objectives together with a suitable location, the trial will conduct quasi-experiments across the following three tranches:

1. Mobility landscapes – comparing participants from UQ with those at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct, including Griffith University at the Gold Coast;
2. Customer sets – comparing different types of travellers within the same location; and
3. Transport system impact – analysing modal shift to define the impact of the intervention on core social goals of partners.

Within these tranches, the project is leveraging partner investment that developed the ODIN PASS platform. This approach will greatly reduce costs to partners and will assist informing new research outcomes about sustainable business models by providing additional capacity up to 6,000 simultaneous users. This scaling is vital to inform partners about their respective policy response in MaaS.

This project intends to collect data about participant travel, attitudes and preferences, including stated and revealed preferences throughout 2024—2026. Analysis across the tranches would be conducted throughout the trial but finalised by September 2026. Within that time, event-based products would also be explored with the MaaS product, such as the Gold Coast Air Show, that feature significant non-ticketed transport demand.

Project objectives

This project has the following objectives:

1. Prove the effectiveness of technology integration through the MaaS solution, integrating parking and other modes into MaaS.
2. Estimate the impact of MaaS on communities with differing mobility offerings, behaviours and social norms.
3. Collect, analyse, document and disseminate information about the benefits of a real-world trial within the Gold Coast area through tangible MaaS technology.
4. Estimation of modal shift as a result of the implementation of a MaaS solution. The project will estimate the proportion of people shifting travel modes because of MaaS. This is expected to translate into congestion reduction and environmental benefits.
5. Provide empirical evidence regarding the business sustainability of MaaS operations. This project is expected to provide solid evidence about the viability of the MaaS ecosystem in Queensland.

Please note …

This page will be a living record of this project. As it matures, hits milestones, etc., we’ll continue to add information, links, images, interviews and more. Watch this space!