Pilot survey of passengers’ preferences in Mobility as a Service (MaaS) scenarios: a case study

Abstract

Transport and mobility are evolving towards the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). MaaS is an integrated mobility system that considers the mobility needs of users as a central element of the transport service. Therefore, the mere definition of centralized and advanced technological systems is not enough to ensure the success of a MaaS.This paper presents a pilot survey for capturing the main behavioural variables (users’ choices) of transport users to support the ex-ante statistical analysis of a MaaS and to design the survey for analysing users’ behaviour.The knowledge of users’ choices may be carried out through existing information sources and statistical analysis. In a first stage, considered in this paper, the direct estimation of users’ choices started from interviews of a pilot sample of users, that may be supported by aggregate data (e.g. passengers’ flows measured on some elements of the transport network).In the current scenario, the surveys concern the detection of trip choices of users belonging to the pilot sample, interviewed in a virtual context, among a set of available trip alternatives.The main objectives of this paper are the following: to build an updated state-of-the art of survey methods concerning transport users’ behaviour; to identify the main disaggregated and aggregated variables of the transport system to be detected for supporting the analysis of MaaS; to obtain empirical evidences about transport users’ behaviour in presence of MaaS from the pilot users interviewed.