However, there are also many anticipated challenges for sustainability and governance stemming from MaaS, ranging from increased energy use, reduced health effects, and up to conflicts across organizations.
[12] In these contexts however, MaaS may need to be re-envisioned, and tailored to the unique challenges of the developing world, in order to create the desired impacts.
Users pay a monthly fee and receive bundled transit services such as unlimited travel on urban public transport in addition to a fixed number of taxi kilometers.
In Hanover, Germany, the MaaS operator can purchase bulk transit services and act as the middleman through the product, Hannovermobil.
A monthly subscription will also provide enough funding for the MaaS operator to purchase significant enough transit services that it can use market power to achieve competitive prices.
In particular, a MaaS operator may improve the problems of low utilization - e.g. in Helsinki, taxi drivers spend 75% of their working time waiting for a customer, and 50% of kilometers driven without generating revenue.
[8][18] The vehicles could have a large impact on the quality of life in urban areas and form a critical part of the future of transportation, while benefiting the traveler, the environment, and even other sectors such as healthcare.
[19] Modelling scenarios were conducted on the deployment of shared autonomous vehicles on the city of Lisbon by PTV as part of the International Transport Forum's Corporate Partnership Board.
In January 2016, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, secured funding to be used over the next ten years to support the development of autonomous vehicles.
[23] The service was well received; however, it was discontinued due to lack of support at the government level for third party on-selling of public transport tickets.
In June 2012, Agrion, an energy storage company, sponsored a 1/2-day conference in San Francisco, CA titled "E-Mobility as a Service"[24] at which the concept of Mobility as a Service was discussed as a potential outcome of the confluence between the digital realm of smartphone technology and shared electric autonomous vehicles [hence the E-Mobility in the conferences title].
[26] MaaS became a popular topic at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems 2015 in Bordeaux, and subsequently, the Mobility as a Service Alliance was formed.
The EU-funded "Mobinet" project has laid some of the groundwork for MaaS, e.g. pan-European identity management of travelers, and payments, and links to trip planners.
In the United States, the US Department of Transportation began a series of demonstration projects called the "Mobility on Demand Sandbox Program" in 2016.
[31] Overseen by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the goals of the program included improved efficiency, effectiveness, and customer experience of transportation services.
[36][37] In September 2023, Brussels launched Floya, as MaaS app to book public transport, scooters, bikes, and cars.