Mobility as a service market is expected to grow to US$ 358.35 billion by 2025 from US$ 38.76 billion in 2017. But what is mobility as a service anyways ?

Mobility as a Service or MaaS is a fundamental shift in the way people will consider their transportation needs in the future. MaaS is described as a shift from personally-owned modes of transportation towards mobility solutions that are consumed as a service. In other words a move away from ownership based model to consumption based model.

The key words here are mobility and service.

The way we explain ourselves of this model at Xemo is akin to the mobile plan. Think of your existing mobile plan and how the service is consumed. Each component of your service is independent. Data(GB), speed, local calls, text messaging, international calls, international roaming, calls within network or outside each component can bundled up or purchased separately. The Telcos do not mandate your purchase plans. They just offer you in the way you like it. Generally if you package them together you get cheaper price while individual plans may be a bit dearer. Some plans, like the one I use for my 8 year old son has limited data per month (my idea of creating value is by making something feel exclusive thus driving a prudent usage). Not only that, consumer can also calibrate the needs of different services at different times. For example during overseas holiday I can buy a specific plan which has roaming included at a cheaper price while during other times of year I may chose not to pay for it at all.

Now let’s try to relate it to the Mobility as a Service model.

Let’s say you go from your house to Melbourne CBD every day for work. 1 way you would do this is Car – Train – Walk/Tram. The challenges in this model perhaps are traffic congestion, lack of parking, standing in trains, disruption of schedule and overall lack of reliability. Even if today you may not run into these issues sooner or later we will be. All stats and research have proven the inevitable. Like almost everything else happening around us things need to change, and we need to adapt and adjust – sooner the better.

The other option would be to get in your car and drive straight to CBD. And we all know how time consuming and un reliable such commutes are unless you leave home before 7 AM and return after 6 PM.

Current transportation facility does not allow you to do much more than that.

Now imagine the same commute.

You take an electric scooter from your house to the nearest public transport hub (what we call as Xemo Hub) board a shuttle which takes you straight to the station without any stops, and you board the train and finally walked (or even cycled) to your office which is just 5 minutes away. And now extend that idea to be able to do so anywhere around the Australia or even around the world. Just like your phone can work anywhere around the world.

And all of this without having to own anything. The scooters are all parked at the end of your street which is unlocked via a QR code. It can be used by anyone who has the correct QR code (The place where you leave the scooter is a pick up point for someone else). As soon as you board the shuttle a specific amount is deducted from your digital wallet. When you get to CBD you unlock a bike (left by someone) to ride to office and park the bike at the stand and lock it away. 

All of this coordinated via an app so neither do you miss a ride nor do you waste any time.

The above case can extend to many scenarios. Getting to work. Getting to university. Go to conference in a new city. Offsite for a team. All you have to do is configure your travel plans to suit your demand for that time. For example in case of a company offsite you could simply come to a xemo hub and take your bus to the destination and on your way back configure your travel to go back straight home instead of going to office and then home. 

That is in a nutshell the idea behind “Mobility As A Service“. The promise of MaaS is 

• Increased utilisation (Every available seat is used)
• Better connectivity of resources (Scooter,Shuttle,Train,Tram/Cycle)
• Better connection between different modes.
• Reduce waiting time. React smartly to disruption.
• Demand based configuration of travel plans

Let’s look at some of the companies already operating in the MaaS ecosystem. We are all pretty much aware of the giants in this space such as Uber, Ola, Grab. These are typically in the ride hailing business. The ride-sharing services include UberPool (https://www.uber.com), GrabCar (https://www.grab.com/ph/car/),CarNextDoor(https://www.carnextdoor.com.au/). Then there are new services coming up for short distance single person rides such as Limebike (https://www.li.me) or Mobike(https://mobike.com/). On the Mass transit side there are companies who are trying their best to bring economies of scale into this model such as Bridj and chariot (https://www.chariot.com/) and of course Xemo – which is not just a managing and scheduling app but also cuts through the entire demand and supply equation to address mass mobility in business class style.

The MaaS market is as unique as every person who wants the service from a demand perspective. Just like Uber demand is as unique as every person who needs a cab. The supply side of MaaS market is also very varied and big. Ride Share, Ride Hail, Car Share and so on.

No wonder the Mobility as a service market is expected to grow to US$ 358.35 billion by 2025 from US$ 38.76 billion in 2017.