People’s current mobility costs and willingness to pay for Mobility as a Service offerings

Authors

Timo Liljamo
Heikki Liimatainen
Markus Pöllänen
Roni Utriainen

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2020

Subject Area

place - europe, economics - willingness to pay, planning - surveys

Keywords

Mobility as a Service, MaaS, Willingness to pay, Mobility costs, User perspective

Abstract

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept that is based on the idea of providing customers with comprehensive mobility services by seamlessly combining various modes of transport. The scientific research on this theme has increased considerably over the last few years, but very little research has so far been conducted on people’s willingness to pay for new MaaS services. This study presents the results of a survey (representative sample size 6,000, number of respondents 1,176, response rate 19.6%) conducted in Finland regarding people’s willingness to pay for MaaS offerings. The study also estimates the current mobility costs of the respondents and relates their willingness to pay for MaaS to their mobility costs. Analysis includes also a linear regression model of willingness to pay for MaaS. As a result of the study, it was found that 43% of the respondents would be willing to adopt a mobility package, assuming it could cover all mobility needs of the respondent. For such a mobility package, the respondents were willing to pay approximately €140 on average, while their relative willingness to pay was an average of approximately 64% of their current mobility costs. However, it should be noted that due the limitations of the study, the results are mostly indicative and further research is called for to grasp the multifaceted qualitative elements related to willingness to pay for MaaS. This study shows some significant variation between user groups in the respondents’ willingness to pay relative to their estimated mobility costs, as well as their absolute willingness to pay. The variation maybe due to the fact that MaaS is still largely unknown as a concept and the challenge that the mobility package which fulfils individual needs differs from person to person. According to the results, MaaS should lower the mobility costs for users in order to be financially attractive.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

Recommended Citation

Liljamo, T., Liimatainen, H., Pöllänen, M., & Utriainen, R. (2020). People's current mobility costs and willingness to pay for Mobility as a Service offerings. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 136, pp. 99-119.