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Daily references to the changing landscape in the provision of passenger transport services is made in the transport literature, including grey material. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the acronym which appears to have caught the imagination of technology providers with promises of a new era of passenger transport whereby assets need not be owned and services can be bought at the point of need. It is the technological developments which have spearheaded the new understanding of MaaS.

MaaS has evolved into a concept that integrates public and private transport services to provide onestop access through a common interface. MaaS is at the centre of the popular view on future collaborative and connected mobility. For transport policy, MaaS is seen as a way to reduce car traffic, and its negative externalities, by enabling citizens to satisfy their mobility needs without having to own assets such as automobiles, either conventional or (in the future) self-driving. MaaS also opens new choices for non-car owning citizens who previously had limited transport options, making some of them socially excluded. Whilst definitions vary, the concept of MaaS has several dimensions: in the form of a smart app and in real-time, it provides mobility services using multimodal options, through a sophisticated journey planner that provides the user with multiple customised options and offers the opportunity for payment either at the point of use or with a pre-purchased mobility bundle. This single platform is envisaged to eventually be transferable around the world from city to city and region to region and also to remain pervasive to the user by working and …