Mobility as a service (“MaaS”)

Effective integration of public, private and active travel modes is an essential component of Ireland sustainable mobility future. Technology can play an important role in encouraging transport users to avail of shared and active modes of travel especially through facilitating multi-modal journeys.

Partnership between public sector authorities, transport operators and mobility service providers are key to MaaS delivering a wide range of modal choices. This can best be supported through the provision of publicly operated integrated sustainable mobility infrastructure, accessible to transport users through a mobile app.

Delivery of this infrastructure by the state or local authority is essential to ensure free, fair competition between different service providers and also to support the development of a multi-modal infrastructure that serves the interests of the consumer as opposed to any individual company or group of companies. The National Transport Authority (NTA) is well placed to take on this responsibility on behalf of the state and we welcome its lead role in this regard as laid out in the Government’s National Sustainable Mobility Policy.

We also recommend that:

• The Government works with the NTA and other stakeholders to develop a MaaS code of practice to support local authorities in implementing publicly procured MaaS solutions.

• Funding is provided to local authorities to trial new MaaS solutions on a ‘test and learn’ basis. This could be by way of a competitive bid fund open to all local authorities.