Mobility Heaven or Hell? A MaaS Choose-Your-Own-Adventure 

Abstract
We propose a workshop, about the past, present, and future of the data standards that underpin MaaS, from our perspective as a practitioner building a MaaS app.

Mobility as a service is often seen as something in the rapidly-approaching future for which we must prepare, when an app will enable seamless access to all available transportation options and the need for private vehicle ownership will be reduced or entirely eliminated. In fact, MaaS is an evolving set of collective policy decisions, enacted through data standards, that have been taking shape for the past 15 years and continue to evolve. Understanding this history, and acting to shape these policy decisions now, is critical if MaaS is going to develop using a common roadmap that serves not only industry, but also consumer needs and government objectives. Since the birth of GTFS in 2005, the development of data standards (both open and private) has led to and facilitated MaaS, encompassing an ever-growing universe of trip information and payment across multiple modes. These data standards — some already in existence, others merely conceptual — are central to determining whether MaaS will help achieve or undermine shared policy goals. In this workshop, participants will examine the past, present, and possible futures of MaaS by learning about the role of data standards.

4 learning objectives of this workshop:

1) Participants will be able to understand the different types of data standards involved in mobility as a service provision and regulation by distinguishing between the operator-regulator relationship (which can be mediated by standards like the Mobility Data Specification) and the ecosystem of consumer-facing MaaS data standards. These MaaS data standards include scheduled and real-time information about available services (such as GTFS, GBFS, and ridehail APIs), and APIs that enable booking and payments for those services (such as mobile ticketing APIs).

2) The past: Participants will be able to understand the history and development of the data standards behind mobility as a service, beginning with transit schedules, real-time information, bikeshare and scooter availability, bikeshare unlocking, ridehail booking, and mobile ticketing APIs.

3) The present: Participants will be able to understand the current state of data standards shaping mobility as a service. By examining the roles of industry, government, and NGO actors, and understanding competing visions for the future of the data standards underlying mobility as a service — including walled gardens from operator-platform apps, closed marketplaces, and open marketplaces with third-party aggregation — participants will learn about the opportunities and threats to achieving policy goals such as mode shift, equity, and market competition.

4) The future: Participants will be able to articulate a clear vision for the potential futures of the data standards that enable mobility as a service and the role they can play in helping achieve policy goals.