This report describes what mobility as a service is and how Saaremaa could start developing a similar service for its inhabitants.
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the concept of offering a wide range of mobility services to customers through one central platform. The reasoning behind this concept is that, by simplifying customers’ experience in using public transport, bike sharing, car sharing or other services, they will be incentivised to use such means of transportation more. To be able to offer such a service, technologies that can interconnect multiple systems are essential.
One type of flexible mobility service is Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) that adapts routes and schedules to real-time passenger requests instead of fixed timetables. Requested via phone or digital platforms, it provides tailored services such as door-to-door or targeted pickups, particularly benefiting users in rural areas or with specific mobility needs.
MaaS is one way to reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector in the short term and the need for private ownership of cars in the longer term. This is achieved by fulfilling the mobility needs of people through, for example, a platform that offers all mobility services in a specific region.1 The main goal of developing a MaaS in Saaremaa, a large island with a low population density, is to make public transport more accessible and provide a platform where other transport services (e.g. demand-responsive transport services) could be implemented.
This report explores how developing demand-responsive transport can synergise with the development of a Mobility as a Service app.