MaaS app Whim ‘to cover 60 countries in next five years’

Whim, the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app which gives users access to transport packages on a pay-as-you-go or monthly subscription basis, has announced ambitious growth plans. “Within the next five years, we want to cover 60 countries,” Whim co-founder Kaj Pyyhtia (pictured) told ITS International. At present Whim, which is owned by MaaS Global, is available in just two countries, but Pyyhtia insists the target is achievable. The service was launched in Birmingham, UK, last week, to cover the
April 9, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

8727 Whim, the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app which gives users access to transport packages on a pay-as-you-go or monthly subscription basis, has announced ambitious growth plans. “Within the next five years, we want to cover 60 countries,” Whim co-founder Kaj Pyyhtia (pictured) told ITS International. At present Whim, which is owned by MaaS Global, is available in just two countries, but Pyyhtia insists the target is achievable.

The service was launched in Birmingham, UK, last week, to cover the West Midlands region, and has been running for two years in Helsinki, Finland. It is due to launch in Antwerp, Belgium, covering the Flanders area, shortly.

Pyyhtia says the company has been investigating possibilities for Whim in other UK cities as well as Berlin and Munich in Germany, Vienna in Austria, Montreal in Canada, and Singapore.

It models itself on mobile phone companies, offering consumers the use of buses, trams, trains, bikes, taxis and hire cars, depending on the package they choose.

In addition to pay-as-you-go, Whim offers monthly fees of £99 (for unlimited public transport with taxis and car hire) and £349 (unlimited public transport, all taxi rides within a three-mile radius of your location and up to 30 days’ car hire per month).

MaaS Global is initially looking to sign up 500 people to the scheme in Birmingham.

The company temporarily installs a three-storey house the size of a parking space at its launches, to illustrate to consumers what can be achieved when cars are removed from the streets.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Nothing basic about universal basic mobility
    May 5, 2022
    The concept of universal basic mobility is here: but Shared-Use Mobility Center CEO Benjamin de la Peña tells Ben Spencer that such schemes may not be looking at the right targets
    Read More
  • Toyota invests in MaaS Global to develop integrated mobility solutions
    June 21, 2017
    Toyota Financial Services (TFS) and its insurance partner have announced a significant investment in the Finnish company MaaS Global, which was established in April 2016 to provide multi-modal transportation services.
    Read More
  • Authorities look to MaaS for new solutions and cost savings
    July 18, 2017
    The structure of society and the way in which our cities work will be completely transformed by Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Finland’s minister of transport and communications Anne Berner, told ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference 2017 in London. In her keynote address, Berner told a packed audience of more than 200 ITS professionals that MaaS has the potential to help governments around the world meet their big city targets such as the rate of employment, the environment, the efficient use of
    Read More
  • MaaS Market conference platform for pioneering projects
    August 21, 2017
    In opening the session on putting MaaS ideas into practice, Hans Arby, chief executive of UbiGo, told the conference that, “MaaS can mean different things to different people. This is why we decided to run MaaS under real conditions and launch the Gothenburg pilot scheme in 2013.” The trial involved 70 households paying €130/month for 6 months with participants agreeing that 20 cars could be put into storage. More than 12,000 bookings/transactions took place during the trial and there were no drop-outs. Ac
    Read More

Highlighted Content