Started in 2015, during the ITS World Congress in Helsinki, Finland, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) was the new buzzword. We are all raising expectations, discussing the possibilities and promises of MaaS, and working at solutions to facilitate the future: will it ever come, or is it a hype?
We believe in MaaS, and we are learning, trying, improving, and making mistakes to become better. We believe in creating a better world by providing positive energy to seek and reach the holly Mobility grail. But our road ahead was bumpy and will remain bumpy.
For the first five years, we talked and aligned on the theory of MaaS. A lot of talking, just a little bit of trying and gaining to reach the promised land. There was an upcoming new industry, new players, new mobility providers, and new business models. The main red line on the development was the digitalisation of the industry. We were getting connected. But the real breakthrough of MaaS is still awaiting.
The benefits of MaaS are proven during the epidemic.
We saw that our industry was aligning to ensure we could provide the best solutions to serve end-users. We have seen flexibility, creativity in solutions and a user-centric approach. The epidemic also shows another side of MaaS. The business models need to get more mature.
The early adopters of MaaS made some tough decisions without knowing if the business would succeed. They started from good entrepreneurship with the knowledge that things will get clearer during the journey.
We are currently at a tipping point: what will MaaS deliver?
It has been clear that digitalisation is still not at the point where we all want it to be. The first outputs and deliveries of MaaS have also made It clear that MaaS is the future of Mobility.
The market is getting mature. We foresee some adjustments in our industry to align the business. Mergers and Acquisitions of Mobility Providers, Technical Providers, of platforms. Some business models did work, some others business models did not. The easy conclusion is that we have not found the best proposition for the business models. Decisions made in the past are good to learn from to reach the holly mobility grail. We can conclude that Maas has just started. Maas is alive and kicking and ready to deploy.
The MaaS Alliance will keep on working on creating the right output for all players. We will keep on facilitating the right conditions to connect, share and exchange knowledge on the Open MaaS Ecosystem. We invite all players to collaborate in working together in the open MaaS Ecosystem to serve End Users. We keep on collaborating and being the catalysator of the output of MaaS in good times and tough times.
MaaS is “SO” Alive!
