Feasibility study for the development of a public-led MaaS platform in the city of Valencia

As cities evolve and change, new solutions to ease the everyday life for people should be developed. Growing both in size and population, cities are facing issues related to housing, pollution and growing inequalities. Metropolitan areas are characterized by complicate relationship between the main attractor and the constellation of smaller cities. The infrastructure produces barriers and bottlenecks while the needs of society are pulling these two realities closer together. New technologies and frameworks have been proposed to tackle these issues. In 2013 Mobility as a Service (MaaS) was first presented to the world as the newest frontier for transport. More than 12 years have passed, and it has not yet delivered on its promises. The issues regarding data sharing and integration, high cost of the digital infrastructure and the disinvestment from public transport were blamed for the failed projects. Very few projects focused on users need, trying to create a system fitting those, but rather focused on solving the problems using MaaS without questioning if the instrument was fit for the purpose. This study, carried out in the metropolitan area of Valencia (Spain), explores both the characteristics and willingness to the mobility providers and regulators to work to implement a MaaS system as well as the users experience and needs to understand whether Mobility as a Service is a fit solution.