Changing Face of Mobility – Mobility on Demand & Traffic Management as a Service
Technology is changing the way we move and reshaping cities and society. Shared and on-demand mobility represent notable transportation shifts in the 21st century. Mobility on demand (MOD)—where consumers access mobility, goods, and services on-demand by dispatching shared modes, courier services, public transport, and other innovative strategies—has grown rapidly due to technological advancements; changing consumer preferences; and a range of economic, environmental, and social factors. New attitudes toward sharing, MOD, and mobility as a service (MaaS) are changing traveller behaviour and creating new opportunities and challenges for public transportation.
What are Traffic Management as a Service, Mobility on Demand, and Mobility Hubs?
- Traffic Management as a Service (TMaaS): It’s an innovative, multimodal and user-centred (passenger) approach to traffic management.
- Mobility on Demand (MOD): It focuses on the commodification of passenger mobility and goods delivery and transportation systems management.
- Mobility Hubs: It denotes locations for switching modes of transport.
TMaaS is monitoring and managing traffic (for all transport modes). Here, there are no lengthy investments in hardware installations needed: the cloud-based platform processes multi-modal mobility information. City governments work with partners to collect and process innovative mobility data. The Traffic Management as a Service platform automatically analyses this information and notifies operators and citizens, strongly reducing the need to watch screens 24/7. The main objective of TMaaS is that every small- to medium-sized city can subscribe and immediately get insights on mobility, manage traffic and communicate with citizens.
MOD focuses on the commodification of passenger mobility and goods delivery and transportation systems management.
Mobility hubs are essential for the safe and convenient switch between modes of transport. The different modes of transport should be within walking distance and their schedules coordinated:
- Railways, e.g. train, subway, tram, cable car or hyperloop stations
- Bus, shuttle, taxi, ride hailing pickup and dropoff areas
- Carpooling / shard ride meeting area with an info board or direction indicators
- Shared cars and shared micro mobility, i.e. electric mopeds, kick-scooters, (cargo) bikes
- Airplanes, VTOL air taxi skyport/drone pads
- Ships and ferries
Essentially, mobility hubs will be the physical appearance of MOD and TMaaS.
Why are these trends important?
Apart from these organically grown large mobility hubs, municipalities across the globe plan smaller hubs systematically in order to improve intermodal mobility and take advantage of their socio-economic benefits.
In cities around the world, innovative and emerging shared modes are offering residents, businesses, travelers, and other users more options to access mobility, goods, and services.
As these shared modes build a network of services in many cities, consumers are increasingly engaging in more complex multimodal decision-making processes. Rather than making decisions between modes, travelers are longing to optimise route, travel time, and cost. Additionally, digital information and fare integration are contributing to new on-demand access models for mobility and goods delivery.
How Can We Help with the Trends of MOD and TMaas?
With more than 25 years of industry experience in mobility, ADK Insights closely and constantly follows these trends globally to prepare you for the future and help you shape your market strategies.
If you would like to continue to exchange views on upcoming mobility trends, please contact Dam, Nimrod, or Rob at ADK Insights.