Whenever we talk about the transport revolution and the associated restructuring of public transport, we cannot avoid the term “Mobility as a Service”, abbreviated MaaS. But what exactly is “MaaS” and how can the digital approach help to sustainably advance the transport revolution?
In Germany, up to 125 kilometres of rail are to be modernized by 2025. During the modernization, passengers will have to switch from rail to rail replacement services. This is also the case for passengers on the Stuttgart S-Bahn, while the main line there is being modernized this summer. Nevertheless, this rail replacement service is different, because: On weekends and weekend nights, it is main line offline – S-Bahn On-Demand online.
Fleet management follows social and economic trends: New forms of work, digitization and the shift in values towards a greater understanding of sustainability are having an impact on the design of company-organized mobility. But what does this constant change in mobility structures mean for companies and where are the opportunities?
Vienna’s public transport system is among the best in the world. The network is dense and the frequency is tight. It is so well developed that you don’t even need to know the timetable. A total of 2.61 million people are transported from A to B by public transport here every day. The popularity can also be seen in the modal split, because: The public transport users have overtaken the car drivers. Around 38 percent of the distances are covered by public transport, while “only” 27 percent are covered by car. But what makes vienna different from other cities?
An ever increasing urbanization of our society is clearly visible. Young people in particular are increasingly moving their centre of life from rural regions to the cities. In addition, there are many commuters who do not want to live directly in the urban jungle, but who find well-paid jobs mainly in the cities. This congestion in the cities and the associated additional traffic flows have consequences – especially for our increasingly grey planet. But what challenges must urban public transport face in times of the mobility change? And what role will it itself play in this?
Whether in the city or in rural areas, everyone agrees on one thing: to protect our planet, we all need to become greener again. Not only in the household many people are making an effort to consume wisely and are once again considering whether they should use plastic bags or eat meat every day. There is also a rethink on mobility issues. Especially for Generation Z, travelling by plane is no longer “state of the art”. Last year, the DB recorded 150.7 million customer trips which also shows that many people care about their green footprint.
Almost 16 million people live in rural regions throughout Germany. For them it is often a difficult task to get from A to B by public transport. After all, rural regions are at the back of the queue when it comes to expanding public transport. But why is the accessibility of these regions so poor and public transport hardly an alternative? How can it be guaranteed that people living in rural areas can also be mobile in a climate-friendly and cost-effective way?
Don’t worry, in this article we will not refresh the basics of business studies again. Rather, we would like to examine the extent to which the theory, which may already be somewhat dusty but is still valid and authoritative, can be combined with our daily practice, the transformation of public transport.
Mobility is often still a resource-intensive undertaking – in every respect: Too many cars on the road cause a high level of environmental pollution, loosely set timetables mean an immense loss of time and excessively large containers and empty runs – especially in rural areas and at off-peak times – take their financial toll.
We are currently observing a greater change in the world of work than ever. While yesterday home office was an exception, today we work smoothly in virtual teams. At the same time, our approach to mobility is changing as well. In times of uncertainty, we need reliable and needs-based solutions that get us safely through (working) everyday life more than ever. This is a requirement that future-oriented employers have not only recently started to meet.
Mobility is not only a prerequisite for economic growth, innovation and trade, but also for the personal well-being of people. It opens opportunities both for individual transport and for the community as a whole and is a global phenomenon with a local dimension. One mobility solution does not exist. In rural areas, for example, completely different mobility requirements can be identified compared to urban agglomerations. If we draw the line a little wider and look at mobility in an international comparison, it becomes clear that economic, cultural and geographical differences have a significant influence on our understanding of mobility.
Most of us are familiar with it: The stress factor of commuting to work. Many people currently do without this trouble due to flexible home office solutions but un-der normal circumstances this is often the time-consuming and nerve-wracking part of the working day. Over 45 percent of employees commute to work every day.
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Tyll Diebold is a research assistant at the Institute for Transport Planning and Logistics at TU Hamburg. He has provided scientific support for the ioki Hamburg project from the very beginning and recently published the study “On-demand services as a component of public transport”. After completing his Master of Science in “Logistics, Infrastructure and Mobility” at TU Hamburg in 2016, he initially worked for an engineering office for a year before returning to TU Hamburg to complete his doctorate.