Whim announces packages ahead of UK launch in West Midlands

Helsinki-based Whim has released packages and pricing for its Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platform ahead of the UK launch in the West Midlands, on the 5 April 2018. The MaaS Global solution is designed with the intention of integrating journey planning, reservations, payments and subscriptions into one app. Offers include a pay as you go option as well as the Whim Everyday £99 ($139) per month package which comes with unlimited public transport for taxis and car hire availability. In addition, the Whim
April 4, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Helsinki-based 8727 Whim has released packages and pricing for its Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platform ahead of the UK launch in the West Midlands, on the 5 April 2018. The MaaS Global solution is designed with the intention of integrating journey planning, reservations, payments and subscriptions into one app.

Offers include a pay as you go option as well as the Whim Everyday £99 ($139) per month package which comes with unlimited public transport for taxis and car hire availability. In addition, the Whim Unlimited £349 ($491) per month offer will provide Midlanders with unlimited public transport; all taxi rides within a three-mile radius of their location and up to 30 days car hire per month.

The project is supported by mayor Andy Street and organisations such as Transport for West Midlands and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Whim’s app is said to fit together with the Swift travel card to deliver smart travel solutions that meet a user’s preferred method of transportation. In addition, commuters will have access to a fleet of 5,000 next bike-share cycles.

As part of the launch, Whim is now seeking the first 500 people to sign up to the scheme and as a visual gimmick will bring a three-storey house the size of a parking space to the centre of Birmingham.

Sampo Hietanan, Whim founder, said: “We like cars, we’re certainly not anti-car, and we still offer access to cars when needed, via taxis or through hire. But we are showing people that they don’t need to be so reliant on car ownership. Once people realise this, the benefits are huge – less traffic, less pollution, less stressful journeys, more space in our towns and cities thanks to fewer cars parked on the road.

“Whim will also reward people for greener, healthier options such as walking more and having car-free days. People will also soon start to realise the positive health benefits of walking a little more and driving less - not to mention the time and money freed up by not having to maintain a car or having to sit behind the wheel in a traffic jam. It just makes more sense."

  • Full story will be available in ITS International’s May/June issue.

Related Content

  • January 25, 2018
    Hurdles to MaaS adoption highlighted
    Jack Opiola talks to some MaaS advocates in the US. Cities will accommodate almost 60% of the world’s population by 2025 and technology is outpacing transportation plans and planners - putting extreme pressures upon planners and transportation systems alike. Big data, digital payments, ubiquitous communications, smartphone applications, on-demand travel and autonomous vehicles are all shredding existing transport plans. Never before has the pace of population growth and the tools to address this problem
    Read More
  • March 27, 2018
    Dundee trial offers insight into delivering MaaS in smaller urban and rural areas
    A MaaS trial in Scotland will evaluate the attraction of such services for young people living in small cities and rural areas. Colin Sowman reports. It is often said that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is fine in big cities - but what about smaller towns and rural areas? Well, the city of Dundee in Scotland has only around 150,000 people but is set to provide some answers with its trial of NaviGoGo, a MaaS operation aimed at 16-25 year olds – be they students, working or unemployed. By population, Dundee
    Read More
  • July 8, 2019
    London needs just one road user charge, says report
    London’s patchwork of road charging schemes should be replaced by a single, distance-based user charge, according to new research. Apart from anything else, it would be much fairer… The UK capital’s multiple road charging schemes require a radical overhaul, according to a new report by the Centre for London thinktank. The suggested solution is to replace existing levies on drivers with a single, distance-based user charge which would more fairly reflect how much, and at what time, people are using London
    Read More
  • May 5, 2016
    ITS innovations – a change for the better?
    Josef Czako takes a look at what the future developments may hold for both the transport sector and society. As the dust of the 2015 World Congress in Bordeaux settles, we can begin to see more clearly some of the most important future innovations in ITS are starting to be linked together: mobility as a service (MaaS), mobility pricing and autonomous vehicles. They all are based on global trends, like digitalisation, automation and servitisation.
    Read More

Highlighted Content