Skip to main content

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.

Related Content

  • December 15, 2015
    Mobility as a Service gaining traction in US and Europe
    As Mobility as a Service starts to move into the mainstream of transport planning, David Crawford compares European and North American initiatives. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept fast gaining traction on both sides of the Atlantic as a way of giving travellers digital multimodal one-stop shops and journey planning tools as an alternative to private car use. Planned delivery methods include subscription-based travel packages in Europe, and 'mobility aggregator' apps, including employee commute ben
  • December 5, 2018
    MaaS will be adopted quicker in Europe than in the US: here’s why
    A new report suggests that MaaS will be implemented more quickly in Europe than in the US – but why should this be? Ben Spencer examines the arguments
  • September 16, 2019
    Inrix: micromobility could replace half of US metro car trips
    Nearly 50% of all car trips in the most congested US metropolitan areas are less than three miles and could be replaced by micromobility services, says Inrix. The company analysed data points from connected devices to rank the top US, UK and German cities where micromobility services (shared bikes, electric bikes and electric scooters) could have the most significant impact on replacing vehicle trips. Findings from the National Association of City Transportation Officials estimated that scooters are
  • March 6, 2023
    Sampo Hietanen on MaaS: “We needed better dreams”
    Sampo Hietanen, founder of MaaS Global, is one of the authors of the Mobility as a Service concept: the dream is still real, but MaaS needs to evolve, he insists