Mass Transit - 34

SERVICES FROM ticketing
to loyalty schemes are
increasingly converging onto
mobile platforms.

be complemented by digital ones,
for example?
Services are also increasingly
expected here and now, wherever
and whenever they're needed. Driven by the growth of smartphones
and the likes of Amazon, Netflix
and Uber, the modern consumer is
demanding services that are consistent, seamless and ubiquitous.
iStock

Tomorrow's transport

Trust and convenience underpin
everything, with the consumer
sitting at the heart of innovation.
The everyday traveler is no longer patient and reliant on public
transport services. Instead, we
must consider the needs of the
consumer, and how transport
ticketing sits among a whole host
of other trusted services.
MaaS needs to be more than
just offering a means of getting
from A to B. As a quick (and certainly not exhaustive!) checklist,
public transport authorities and
public transport organizations
can consider the following:
* Journey planning
* Personalized services
all operating * Loyalty schemes
more globally, * Contextual mobility (offering,
with our
for example, local travel serphysical and
vices and a hotel with a flight
digital lives
booking)
becoming
* Seamless transactions
inextricably
* Device agnostic support or BYOD
entwined."
Consumers want to travel with
minimal effort and planning:
booking a hotel and connecting
travel simply, with a free loyalty-scheme coffee en-route and live
updates and travel times.
Fare-centric needs to become
consumer-centric. But how can
traditional transport players best
adapt? And, what's been holding
them back?

Making the Case for
Standardization in MaaS
As our digital and physical worlds continue to intertwine,
fare-centric needs to become consumer-centric.

By Philippe Martineau, contributor

HE VISION OF A TRULY SEAMless age of Mobility as a Service
(MaaS) is coming into focus.
But for many stakeholders in
the traditional transport world,
how to get there remains a blur.
Services from ticketing to
loyalty schemes are increasingly
converging onto mobile, and innovative new form factors, applications and services are emerging
rapidly. As a result, demands of
today's digital travelers are at an
all-time high. But, for many in
the transport world, keeping up
with the pace of more advanced,
inclusive and better-connected
services is causing more than a
few headaches.
In this new era of connected
mobility, there's a real opportunity
for stakeholders to enhance offerings and tap into new revenues.
But the convergence of multiple
players and industries is posing
major technical and strategic challenges. To truly meet the levels of

34 |

innovation delivered in adjacent
industries - and, crucially, the expectations of consumers - transportation needs a new approach.
Openness will be central to realizing the full potential new age
of MaaS. But to best understand
why, its worth reviewing what's
driving this change and what's
creating the challenges.

The MaaS mindset

From how we pay and communicate to what we watch and listen to,
the dramatic evolution of consumer
behavior in recent years is changing
how transport services need to be
delivered and consumed.
The "MaaS mindset," as I like
to think of it, is shaped by these
changes. We're all operating more
globally, with our physical and
digital lives becoming inextricably entwined. Traditional local
service providers need to think
further afield and more "phygital" - how can existing services

Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JULY/AUGUST 2019

"We're

Bridging the
innovation gap

For the last few decades, proprietary solutions have dominated

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