Mobility as a service in smart cities

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Mobility as a service in smart cities
Florin NEMÞANU1, Joern SCHLINGENSIEPEN2, 
Dorin BURETEA3, Valentin IORDACHE4
1,3,4 Transport Faculty, Politehnica University of Bucharest
2 University of Applied Science Ingolstadt (TH Ingolstadt)
1 florin.nemtanu@upb.ro
Abstract: The new trend in the development of urban area is focused on smart city. Following the defini-
tion given by Gartner the concept of a Smart city covers 6 main components: smart mobility, smart people,
smart economy, smart governance, smart environment and smart living. All these components need support
systems which are able to manage, optimise and save urban resources. An important component is the smart
mobility and mobility as a service could be a key solution to solve the problem of urban mobility in a smart
manner. The definition of mobility as a service paves the way for understanding of the concept and new busi-
nesses could be established based on this new approach. The authors propose a model for mobility as a ser-
vice and the architecture of this urban mobility system is defined to analyse the role of mobility in a smart city.
Keywords: Mobility as a service, urban mobility, smart mobility, smart city.
Introduction
The urban area has to face several challenges in terms of sustainability, consumption of
resources, economic activities and the welfare of the citizens. The pollution, erosion of the
soil, air quality, access of SMEs to open market, the open market of resources, happiness,
the level of education are only few major issues of urban areas and metropolitan area (sub-
urban areas are parts of the city through the citizens and services). Therefore new approaches,
concepts and technical solutions for urban area have to be developed. A well-known concept
is the concept of smart city which describes the objectives of resp. the requirement against
a city not focused on infrastructure but on current and future functions of a city and there-
fore use ICT and related technologies to aggregate data from many different areas to gener-
ate input information for optimal fulfilment of functions by so called services.
Today we see a main trend following this concept in all components of a city. A general
model of a smart city was developed in the European project (www.smart-cities.eu) where
six main components was revealed and the main reason was to develop a model to be fol-
lowed and to add more valuable functionalities to this conceptual model.
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The urban development is based on land consumption and the relations with the mobil-
ity patterns and the mobility as an objective could affect the urban system and all its com-
ponents (Camagni Gibelli, & Rigamonti, 2002) and two main approaches could be mixed in
defining this: a macro approach, which is focused on the relations between the city and the
rest of the region and country and a micro approach, which is focused on the city itself.
Transforming urban transport confronts head-on the dilemma faced by a world addicted
to automobility (Low, 2013) and the main idea is to change the paradigm and focus the urban
effort on mobility as a service more than mobility focused on vehicles, infrastructure and trans-
port modes. This changing of the paradigm is not a simple solution for transport systems, it
is more a societal problem and the solution is to involve the citizens as well as all aspects of
the human society (education, businesses, political environment etc.).
Goldman and Gorham (2006) have identified four innovative directions and organized them
into four clusters of activity: New Mobility, City Logistics, Intelligent System Management,
and Liveability and these four directions could be reshaped into Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
as main component of a smart city.
As the authors have already mentioned before, the main step in understanding the urban
mobility is to create a model for the city as well as for all components of a smart city, a pos-
sible solution is to use SUMO (Behrisch, Bieker, Erdmann, & Krajzewicz, 2011), but the com-
plexity of the model could be a barrier in understanding the mobility in urban area. The
flexibility in using the models as well as the diversity of models are possible solutions to man-
age the modelling activity of MaaS.
The definition of Mobility as a Service, at this stage, is simple and in the same times com-
plex, one definition is proposed in Rantasila (2015): “the concept of MaaS means (in a nut-
shell) bundling different transport means, public and private, into one easy-to-use package
for customer” but this definition has a huge limitation in terms of concept. Our proposal is
to define MaaS as a new concept based on a new support transport system.
The problem of managing urban mobility systems in a novel way by considering the com-
plexity and diversity of the conurbation and agents involved in an urban mobility system was
approached in Schrank & Lomax (2007) and Macário (2011) and the idea to focus on mobil-
ity system more than the mobility effects could be useful for the new concept of smart city.
Urban mobility is also discussed in Schlingensiepen, Mehmood, & Nemtanu (2015) and
the mobility services in urban area are defined based on ICT infrastructure and an autonomic
behaviour of the support system is needed in terms of providing a high level of service. The
strong link between urban mobility or transport and urban development highlights the impor-
tance of mobility for urban areas (Banister & Lichfield, 1995) and the city has to be designed
with a strong transport component in terms of assuring the objectives of urban development. 
The urban transport, in the context of a smart city, is a very complex issue not only for
its effects in the structure of the city but also as a main factor for the development of busi-
nesses in city area (Jönson, & Tengström, 2006). The importance and the roles of transport
systems in urban area is revealed in a World Bank report (Gwilliam, 2002) and the main con-
clusion is that the way to adapt the urban mobility to smart city is to create new concepts and
innovative solutions as MaaS is and to define these concepts as parts of a smart city.
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Smart city as a trend
Smart city is a new and innovative concept and it is a result of the complexity of urban
environment as well as the new challenges in terms of mobility, population, natural environ-
ment and other societal aspects. This new concept is at the starting point and the main oppor-
tunity is to integrate new technologies in the definition of the concept and in the structure of
the new city.
Behind the scientific work, in terms of defining this new concept and this new way to
develop and enlarge a city, strategies and new initiatives are arising in Europe. The European
Urban Agenda (http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/consultation/urb_agenda/pdf/swd_
2015.pdf) identified three key priority areas of urban development (after a public consulta-
tion): smart (low carbon, low waste and smart flow cities), green (environmentally friendly,
climate resilient and compact cities) and inclusive (living, caring and intergenerational cities).
Since our definition of Smart City focus on the functions and optimal provision of services
it also covers the aspect of green and inclusive, because the definition of the optimum can
also contain those aspects and should be done by public consultations.
The approach of this paper is a top down approach with a multilayer model starting with
the strategical layer. Based on this approach the strategical layer will have these 3 compo-
nents: smart, green and inclusive. And, from this layer a conceptual layer will define more
components which are able to be developed in an urban area. The European model elabo-rated in European Smart Cities (http://www.smart-cities.eu/) has defined 6 main components
for a smart city:
– Smart mobility – the mobility of people and goods has to be provided in a smart man-
ner which means the integration of all transport modes, ICT solutions, zero pollution and con-
gestions and so on.
Figure 1: The model of a smart city
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– Smart environment – all urban components (from transport to housing) have to be envi-
ronmental friendly and more than it, to be able to regenerate the environment in urban areas.
– Smart economy – is focused on businesses and the effect of the business results on the
urban area. The main challenge is to integrate all urban businesses in this complex concept.
– Smart people – this component is a fundamental one because all activities and things
in urban areas are the results of human activity. The first step in having smart people is to
invest in education of people and the second one is to involve all people in all aspects of urban
life (a participative approach of citizen involvement).
– Smart living – it is the answer of a smart city to the action of smart people. The city has
to be able to offer and to provide all conditions and services for a better life of urban citizens.
– Smart governance – is a key component of a smart city because all actions needed to
transform a city in a smart city have to be taken by the governance body. This governance is
direct linked to the smart people and the involvement of citizens is the fundamental aspects
in terms of obtaining the success.
All these 6 components need a support from new and emerging technologies and ICT tech-
nologies in terms of maximising the effects and to speed up the transformation process from
a normal city to a smart city. Sometimes, the term “smart city” is used only for these sup-
porting technical systems but it is mandatory to have a concept behind the technology.
The top down, multilayer approach has to be started from the needs of citizens and the
main result is a smart city.
Figure 2: A top-down, multilayer approach
The tactical/action layer is covered by sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP) (all exam-
ples for layers were collected from transport and mobility domain, the model could be used
for all components of the city not only for transport and mobility). The SUMP has to sup-
port the city governance in finding the best solution for urban mobility and has to be an instru-
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ment for implementation of integrated transport solutions in urban area. (Sustainable Urban
Mobility Plan, http://www.eltis.org/mobility-plans/sump-concept) 
Under the layer of SUMP (for the case of urban mobility), implementation and integra-
tion of various solutions has to support the city. One new solution is Mobility as a Service
which is, in fact, a result of this new concept of smart city.
The multilayer approach is focused on urban mobility (or smart mobility for a smart city)
and the main objective is to define a new way to ensure mobility services in urban areas.
Urban mobility
Urban mobility has to be defined and analysed not only as a result of providing transport
services to different customers but also as a main resource and main service for various busi-
nesses and urban activities. Sometime the main components of the urban systems could be
dependent by transport or mobility system, for instance the education system is closed related
to transport system and mobility, the isolation of citizens could generate some educational
implication and social isolation. 
Urban mobility is a result of the interaction of 5 factors: transport system & services, eco-
nomic environment, urban development, education & culture, regional & national integration.
Figure 3: The context of urban mobility
The most important factor of the context is the urban transport system as part of a national
transport system (the city is the source and destination for interurban trips). The transport
system will define the mobility in urban area and will set up the framework for mobility ser-
vice in a smart city. Economic environment is also an important factor of urban mobility (indus-
trial cities have some specific characteristics which were generated by the type of industry
developed in that urban area) and it could be the main force for development of urban mobil-
ity. Urban development is also important to define urban mobility and to understand this mobil-
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ity in an urban system approach. Education and culture of citizens as well as the results of
educational and cultural institutions actions in urban area are very important to understand
the needs of citizens and the level of implication in urban life. The city is a part of a coun-
try and it is a component of a national system. For this reason, it is also important to inte-
grate the city in the region as a component and to define all possible links with other
components of this system.
All these 5 components of the context influence the urban mobility and the urban mobil-
ity will influence and modify these. The lack of mobility in urban area could affect the trans-
port system (the main impact will be on the efficiency of the transport system) not only through
the level of demand but also through the level of socio-benefits. Urban mobility has a huge
role in education and culture, the movement of people and things opens the door for people
to have access to knowledge and information.
The context of urban mobility and the existence of new technologies are the main rea-
sons for the request of a new concept in terms of mobility and this new concept is called Mobil-
ity as a Service.
Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a new concept which will shift the mobility from the pri-
vately owned vehicles and a specific transport mode to a service based on various transport
solutions and modes. The customer will express its transport requirements and the MaaS sys-
tem will provide the best transport solution based on the customer’s profile.
Figure 4: MaaS – conceptual model
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The conceptual model has two main components: the user or customer as a beneficiary
of the services and MaaS system as a provider of Mobility as a Service.
The user is the main source for mobility requirements and all these requirements will be
provided based on the following items: 
– User profile – the profile will be elaborated in an automated manner based on the inputs
from the user and based on the characteristics and parameters collected by an automated device
(in this case, a smartphone could be a good solution, as a hardware component, and a social
media app, as a software component, to solve this problem of collecting data).
– Restrictions – the user as well as the MaaS system could be placed in an environment
with some restrictions in terms of collecting data and processing and transmitting informa-
tion to different parts of the system. A backup system as well as components could provide
the best solution in terms of eliminating some restrictions. The restrictions could be grouped
in: technical restrictions (ex. mobile communication availability), market restrictions (ex. the
lack of market information), regulatory restrictions (ex. public transport information is not
available) and personal restrictions (ex. User disabilities resulting in special needs)
– External factors – some externalfactors act on user as well as MaaS and the effect of
this action could change the context of MaaS. For instance, the existence of communication
infrastructure could accelerate the development of MaaS.
– User satisfaction – the user satisfaction is defined based on ideal/reference model for
a mobility service and the comparison of real service with this reference model. This satis-
faction is important for MaaS as a business, in terms of keeping the user in a friendly envi-
ronment.
Mobility as a Service needs a support system to provide different services as well as to
transfer the information from different transport modes to the user. The system could be, at
the beginning, a platform which will collect the information from basic transport systems to
the user.
The main component of MaaS system is the ICT support system which is dealing with
collecting, transmitting and processing information as well as with the presenting of this infor-
mation in an understandable format for all users. The ICT platform as support system for MaaS
system will exchange data and information with the following components:
– Owned vehicles – the system will integrate all available vehicles (the models and lim-
itations of current ride sharing platform can be seen as a first step implementing this);
– Public transport – this is the main component of the transport system which will pro-
vide transport and mobility services in the MaaS system. The role of public transport will be
increased and the priority in traffic as well as in investment will be main aspects in planning
new systems.
– Taxi, Car sharing – the main characteristics of the user’s profile as well as the avail-
ability of vehicles will include taxi system in MaaS system as provider of specific transport
services (and other similar systems).
– Bikes – this component includes parking areas for bikes and rent-a-bike systems for both,
private and public bikes.
– Ped. ways – another direction is to include walking as an important mode for a multi-
modal transport system support for MaaS.
– Shops – the role of shops is, on the one hand, as destinations for urban trips (transport
of people) and, on the other hand, as provider of goods (transport of goods).
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– Other services – any other services could be integrated in MaaS to increase the value
of the service (for instance, fast food service integration – drive in service as part of the mobil-
ity as a service).
The functional architecture of the MaaS system could be defined at the beginning using
the functional areas. The second step is to decompose every functional area in high level func-
tions and dependencies among them as well the functional data flows.
Figure 5: Functional architecture MaaS
The authors have identified seven functional areas but the list could be enhanced (the secu-
rity functional area could be included in this architecture for both data and people security).
The first functional area is in charge with building the profile of the user based on the
inputs from user and personal sensor network (this sensor network is built in the vicinity of
the user and it is based on a smart device). The Profile Builder will generate a virtual person
(avatar) who will act as an agent in the system to find the best mobility solution for the real
person who was the source of information for this profile. 
The Trip Planning functional area will convert the needs for transport or mobility expressed
by the user into a trip plan based on the existing transport solutions and external conditions.
The functional area Urban Conditions will collect information about the urban environment
with all its components and will provide some restrictions or permissions for mobility solutions
found by MaaS system (i.e. some streets could be converted into pedestrian streets during the
weekend and this state could be changed the mobility solution offered by the MaaS system).
Another very important (with a huge impact on the user) functional area is Negotiation
Functions. The system, through this functional area, has to negotiate various transport solu-
tion and various types of costs to offer the best mobility solution for the user.
The foundation of the system is formed by the transport systems behind. The Transport
Offers as a main functional area has to collect all available offers from various transport sys-
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tems and to select the proper transport solutions for a specific user (as the virtual person asked
the system to do).
The financial aspect is important to open the market for new businesses as well as to attract
more users into the system. Financial Functions has the role to distribute the budget of a trip
to various transport systems involved in this trip and also to find the less expensive alterna-
tive transport solutions for a specific need.
New businesses on MaaS Market
MaaS will add more value and will open the market for new businesses in the domain of
mobility of people and goods. The most important entity which is needed for implementa-
tion of MaaS is the mobility operator or MaaS operator. This has to be an independent entity
(public or private) which is able to perform the mobility activities in terms of satisfy the user
needs. On the other hand, the public transport operators are trying now to change their role
in a supplier of mobility with more multimodal and integrated transport solutions (bikes, cars,
boats etc.).
Based on the MaaS architecture presented a list of services was elaborated to support the
development of the system:
– Operation of MaaS
– Financial clearing
– Data collection and processing
– Cloud computing and big data
– Communication
– Mobile applications
– Data interfaces
– Transport and trip planning
This list of services will generate opportunities for new businesses, the main goal is to
ensure the development of a high number of new businesses. Every functional area has to be
covered by real services provided by different companies, the main issue is to keep a maxi-
mum number of companies to ensure the freedom of the market with no interference from
monopolistic or oligopolistic players.
MaaS is the result of different businesses and the complexity of the architecture needs a
special attention in defining the components as well as the relations among them. This could
be a real challenge and the framework of Maas has to be developed having as starting point
the architecture and the organisational component of it.
The MaaS market needs an architecture as a main conceptual tool, but needs also a frame-
work especially focused on economic and legislative aspects. An organisational architecture
could offer a good image on the context of MaaS and it could define the relations between
different entities involved in mobility (for instance the owner of the vehicle, the public trans-
port operator, the user and so on). Starting from this point it is important to define STEEP
(Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental and Political) factors which are defining
the context of MaaS.
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Conclusions
At this time, many challenges of urban area put a huge pressure on the city and on the
transport system (as main provider of transport and mobility services). To solve this prob-
lem, one solution is to change the way of organising the system which is dealing with mobil-
ity in city. This new approach has to start from the new concept of a smart city and to have
as objectives all those which are coming from the objectives of smart city. Mobility as a ser-
vice is changingthe way of organising the transport system in urban area (an integrated vision
of the urban transport is requested to fulfil the new mobility requests). MaaS will not affect
only the transport system, also other components of the smart city will be changed to open
the market and open new opportunities for small businesses.
The main benefits of implementing MaaS could be classified based on the following cat-
egories:
– User benefits: the cost of the mobility will be decreased having as reference the same
transport conditions (safety, time etc.); the mobility will be tailored to the requests of the user
and will be designed based on user’s aspirations (environmental protection, safety, cultural
aspects etc.); the mobility will be integrated in the life of the user and in the context of the
city; the user will be involved directly in the plan of the mobility (a smart sensors’ network
will facilitate the collection of data from the user and his/her behaviour).
– Business benefits: the multilayer approach will facilitate the atomisation of the market
with various companies acting as players with no one in a monopolistic position (if the access
to information and services will be granted by an independent agency, i.e. Mobility Agency);
new domains for businesses (MaaS operator, mobility facilitator, mobility negotiator etc.);
public transport operators could extend their businesses or a part of their business could be
under a process of externalisation.
– City benefits: the city will be able to provide mobility services for all citizens based on
their needs and requests; MaaS could be a tool for development of smart city and integration
among all city’s components; the governance of the city will be facilitated and the users will
participate directly to the governance of transport system as part of the smart city.
– Transport operators’ benefits: transport operators will develop a new dimension of their
businesses as part of an integrated transport system; they could attract more passengers and
the efficiency of urban transport will be increased; the direct link with their customers; mul-
timodal approach of their actual businesses.
– Societal benefits: the elevation of the quality of life in urban areas; the inclusion of
the citizens in urban context and in urban activities; the reduction of negative impact of trans-
port systems; rebalance of transport modes; open doors for innovation and new businesses;
added value of existing transport systems as well new application for new and advanced
technologies.
An important issue in launching new concepts is to identify the barriers as well as some
measures to open these barriers. The main barriers identified by authors are: legislative bar-
riers (i.e. collection of fares and distribution of the collected money to different actors), mar-
ket barriers (i.e. some public transport operators could block the access to the market of a
new companies), city’s barriers (some structures and systems of the city could reject the con-
cept and will modify the design of the concept), citizens’ barriers (only a small number of
citizens are open for new concepts in terms of mobility).
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The impact of MaaS on transport system, urban environment and businesses could be
defined as direct impact and indirect impact. In the category of direct impact, the following
aspects have to be highlighted: impact on the natural environment of the city, impact on the
quality of life, impact on the urban business environment, impact on the region and country.
Another important aspect is to manage the risk of implementation the concept of mobil-
ity as a service. The first step is to identify the risks and the sources of these. The second
step is to define a set of measures to counterattack on these risks.
Based on this succinct cost benefit analysis the mobility as a service MaaS could be defined
as a new and innovative way to manage the transport problems in urban area and the imple-
mentation of MaaS in cities will facilitate the transformation of them into smart cities.
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