How stakeholders influence MaaS implementation? An analysis based on evolutionary game theory

Abstract

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is an emerging mobility service that has received high expectations from the transportation sector in recent years. MaaS integrates multiple transportation services into a single platform, enhancing the accessibility of various transportation resources. However, the complex integration involved in MaaS leads to uncertainty in stakeholder interaction and system implementation. For the successful deployment and development of MaaS, this study aims to identify stakeholder enablers and barriers as well as to solve the uncertainty in MaaS implementation. We construct a tripartite evolutionary game model among government, transportation service providers (TSPs) and travelers. By synthesizing the evolutionary stability of each participant through simulation, we explored the impact of factors on stakeholder strategy choices and further analyzed the stability of equilibrium points in the system. The results show that: 1) Government subsidies and penalties, TSPs' costs and revenues, travelers' utility and expenses all impact the strategy choices of stakeholders. 2) The costs of government policy-making and TSPs will influence the evolution of MaaS system into two different development modes: free-market model and policy-supported model. 3) Travelers’ utilities play a crucial role in promoting the stability of travelers' adoption of MaaS. This study provides new insights into identifying stakeholder demands. The findings contribute to formulating specific policy recommendations and incentive measurements to help in the strengthen and forward movement of MaaS development in the future.