Consumer Predisposition and Behavior Towards Mobility-as-a-Service Among University Students in a Developing Country

Abstract

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) has been recently gaining ground, presenting a shift away from existing ownership-based transportation and towards access-based ones. MaaS is still surrounded by uncertainties: its development and applicability are mainly centered in developed countries; however, we believe that MaaS is modular, adaptable and applicable to several realities. In this sense, this study aims to examine university student's demand and predisposition for MaaS usage in a developing country, as well as to understand the differences in mobility perception among those students who are car users and non-car users. This survey was applied to over 300 university students in a Brazilian city, Lavras. Using the CART algorithm, we obtained classification trees to predict favorable responses related to MaaS use, based on several predictor variables (socio-economic characteristics, means of transport used, distance, etc.). We observed that car users are a little less sensitive to cost than non-car users. For car users, the commute alternatives that take longer, with less flexibility and availability-even when offered at lower cost-are not appealing, while the non-car users accept alternative options and expend more time when lower costs are available. Also, in general, a tree-based classification model predicted a positive adherence possibility for a MaaS scheme for both car users and non-car users (69%). As conclusions, this study suggests that there is a predisposition to accept the MaaS model for creating value for commuters in a developing country. We found that many MaaS characteristics (e.g. payment via app, transportation integration, monthly plan, customization, and so on) presented a positively predictable possibility of substitution, especially for Millennials. Also, we found that bicycles may be a mode that can be explored for MaaS schemes worldwide, and that hitchhiking could be used as a strategy to apply MaaS in places where public transportation lacks efficiency.

Willingness to use Maas in a Developing Country

“…in this sense, users who own the car but are open to sharing, and those who do not own the car, and use any of the other alternatives, present less harmful measures for urban transport. given the aforementioned and based on the importance of the transport mode choice, presented as the result of a survey with over 300 students (see gandia et al [36]), Figure 4 depicts the higher and lower factor indicated in our results for each mode of transport based in a spectrum indicating the urban mobility issues.…”

“…on the other hand, (2) users without car ownership are more willingness to use a Maas scheme with (a) higher transport expenses, (b) daily journals with intermediate distances; (c) casual carpooling habits; and also, (d) mostly commute in day shift. gandia et al [36] states that among car users, the commute alternatives that take longer, with less flexibility and availability -even when offered at lower costs -were not appealing. corroborating with this, car users pointed out availability, comfort and safety as the most important characteristics in the choice of car.…”

“…For instance, the casual carpooling and bus's transport modals are alternatives that provide solutions in cost and agility, however the lack of availability discourages their use. also, a recent study show that casual carpooling modal can be a strategic alternative to address the lack of public transportation efficiency in developing countries ( [36]). corroborate with this, it was observed that the lack of availability should be solved in order to address motivation to use both of those transport modals.…”

The Development of Mobility as a Service in China and its Impact on Automobile Manufacturers: A Business Model Innovation

“…Apart from understanding the customers' requirements in choosing MaaS offerings, it is also advantageous to identify the difficulties that customers are facing in using current MaaS offerings. According to previous studies, the three biggest challenges that customers are facing are wait time, price, and safety (Brezovec, Hampl, 2021;Qin, Wang, 2020;Gandia et al, 2019;Gandia et al, 2021).…”