MaaS could lead to ‘unintended negative consequences’, say UK politicians

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) could lead to ‘unintended negative consequences’, according to influential figures in the UK parliament. The House of Commons Transport Committee’s report on MaaS suggested that increased road congestion and poorer air quality – as well as ‘social and digital exclusion’ – could be the unwanted outcomes of the widespread adoption of MaaS schemes. “Early research and piloting of MaaS should focus not only on maximising the potential benefits but also on mitigating potential
February 11, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Mobility as a Service (8356 MaaS) could lead to ‘unintended negative consequences’, according to influential figures in the UK parliament.


The House of Commons Transport Committee’s report on MaaS suggested that increased road congestion and poorer air quality – as well as ‘social and digital exclusion’ – could be the unwanted outcomes of the widespread adoption of MaaS schemes.

“Early research and piloting of MaaS should focus not only on maximising the potential benefits but also on mitigating potential negative effects that could arise,” the MPs on the committee said in their report.

They added: “MaaS should be tested under as wide a variety of conditions as possible if those in local and central government considering MaaS or who are responsible for designing policies and commissioning schemes are to understand and avoid these potentially costly unintended consequences.”

The report also calls on the UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) to become “a more active participant in shaping the evolution of MaaS”, rather than observing as private companies and local authorities make the running.

The DfT should “help to support a much more varied ‘test and learn’ approach to the implementation of MaaS”, it adds, collecting data on a diverse range of MaaS projects and “sharing best practice between local and regional authorities and MaaS platform providers”.

The government should also examine “what steps it needs to take to ensure there is fair market competition and that users’ financial interests are protected”.
Paul Campion, CEO of 7800 Transport Systems Catapult, told MPs: “We are at a critical point at the moment. It is not too late to do the right thing, but the longer we leave it, the more private companies will try to monopolise, because that is how they work.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Arup: we need to speed up EV collaboration
    September 26, 2019
    From Los Angeles to New Delhi, cities may have to expand their current charging infrastructure for electric vehicles by 500% in the next few years. Arup’s Dominic Taylor asks how cities, infrastructure owners and transport authorities can make joined-up decisions ive years from now, low emission vehicles – predominantly electric vehicles (EVs) - will be transforming the streets of our cities – as long as these vehicles have somewhere to charge. Drivers of EVs without driveways, and unable to charge at hom
    Read More
  • Getting C/AVs from pipedream to reality
    October 17, 2019
    The UK government has suggested that driverless cars could be on the roads by 2021. But designers and engineers are grappling with a number of difficult issues, muses Chris Hayhurst of MathWorks Earlier this year, the UK government made the bold statement that by 2021, driverless cars will be on the UK’s roads. But is this an achievable reality? Driverless technology already has its use cases on our roads, with levels of autonomy ranked on a scale. At one end of the spectrum, level 1 is defined by th
    Read More
  • Regulation time-lag will hit driverless technology hard says leading consultancy BDO
    August 8, 2018
    The legislation surrounding driverless cars is lagging so far behind the technology involved that the industry is unlikely to see a regulatory framework in place any time soon says leading international business, finance and taxation consultancy BDO. And IEEE, "the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity" can only see problems ahead as the politicians fall further and further behind. BDO has been looking at a report from www.Spectr
    Read More
  • 15-minute cities: Path to dystopia or storm in a side street?
    June 5, 2023
    Urban planners and transportation professionals will need to address wild accusations about the motives behind 15-minute cities - and relevant criticisms too - if the concept is to scale to its potential
    Read More

Highlighted Content