{"id":56044,"date":"2016-10-11T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=56044"},"modified":"2016-10-11T09:54:19","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T13:54:19","slug":"lorinc-transits-last-mile-solution-may-mobility-service-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2016\/10\/11\/lorinc-transits-last-mile-solution-may-mobility-service-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: Transit’s “last mile” solution may be mobility-as-a-service companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"feature-lorinc\"<\/p>\n

I loath Rogers just as much as the next red-blooded Canadian, and, on certain days, possibly even more. But I have to give the telecom conglomerate, and others like it, credit for figuring out how to promote the idea of bundling all sorts of services and options, plus financial incentives, into an all-in-one offering.<\/p>\n

My question is whether there\u2019s something positive to be learned from this particular marketing\/pricing strategy that could build on the proliferation of mobility options now available in large urban areas that still struggle to deal with the so-called first mile\/last mile<\/a> problem.<\/p>\n

The explosive popularity of Uber has certainly prompted policy-makers to consider the prospect of joining forces with ride-sharing companies as a means of providing more coordinated options in areas not well served by transit.<\/p>\n

According to a 2015 article in CityLab<\/a>, cities like Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis have established service or payment partnerships with Uber. Late last month, the Toronto Transit Commission accepted a recommendation<\/a> from CEO Andy Byford to study how the agency (and the City) might pilot an on-demand ride sharing service that conforms with the TTC\u2019s policy of requiring transportation providers to only use accessible vehicles.<\/p>\n

Metrolinx in August also put out a report<\/a> prepared by the University of Toronto\u2019s Mowat Centre\u00a0calling for more coordination between transit agencies, including Metrolinx, and ride-, car- and bike-sharing organizations, with a proposal that the integration should be delivered to riders via the Presto card.<\/p>\n

But should transit agencies be tasked with orchestrating this kind of integration, and, more specifically, marketing it to riders? Given that there\u2019s some promotional savvy involved, I\u2019m not convinced.<\/p>\n

Indeed, I\u2019d say there\u2019s an intriguing argument to be made for the role of private \u201cmobility-as-a-service\u201d (MaaS) players that can bundle and market various incentive-based subscriptions to customers who routinely use a range of modes (transit, as well as taxis and bike-, car- and ride-sharing) to move around their own urban regions. Think Expedia, but for getting around the city.<\/p>\n

One such company, Global MaaS<\/a> \u2014 which describes itself as the world\u2019s first mobility-as-a-service firm \u2014 launched a test in the Helsinki region in the summer and will go live this fall there as well as two other Finnish cities.<\/p>\n

Travelers may buy monthly \u201cWhim\u201d packages with a specified number of \u201cmobility points\u201d that allow them access to transit, taxis, ride-sharing, car-sharing and bike-sharing. The firm offers consumers various bundles, and they draw down points based on the mobility options they select (public transit, ride-share, etc.), with the service delivered via an app that also antes up optimal travel routes.<\/p>\n

As The Economist<\/a><\/em> reported last week, \u201cOnce a route has been chosen it will make any bookings needed, as well as ensuring that hire vehicles are available and public-transport sections are running on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

A slightly more advanced version of Whim formally went into service in Hannover, Germany, last February after a 15-month pilot, according to UTIP<\/a>, an international transit operators network. As UTIP noted, \u201cThe [Mobility Shop] service offers users the possibility to tailor the bundle to their individual needs and to directly book their journeys, whether it\u2019s a public transport ticket or a taxi ride with mobility options, including travel times, appearing in real time.\u201d Users receive a monthly bill.<\/p>\n

The emergence of such entities depends, to a significant degree, on whether transit agencies (or any of the other mobility operators for that matter) would be prepared (or directed) to sell monthly passes or fares on a wholesale basis to re-sellers. That\u2019s clearly a policy decision with financial consequences and trade-offs. After all, notwithstanding the long-standing availability of transit tickets in corner stores, the TTC (and many transit agencies) still has a lock on the distribution of its own fares and fare media.<\/p>\n

The case for emergence of arm\u2019s length bundlers is that they\u2019d be focused on figuring out the best way of promoting and pricing service packages. Theoretically, they would also function as honest brokers, sourcing mobility services from competing providers\/modes, including public transit operators. If transit agencies ran such services, there would be clearly a risk of self-dealing, as happens, for example, with LCBO, whose merchandising policies discriminate against wines from other parts of Canada.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that allowing this kind of player into the mobility market would\u00a0introduce a new dynamic, and one that is potentially disruptive for dominant transit operators like the TTC. As this presentation<\/a> by a Hannover transit official notes, the bundlers may well turn out to be large, profit-minded players, like Amazon or Uber.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, policy-makers need to ensure that if they move towards allowing MaaS companies to gain access to the market, they\u2019re not inadvertently creating private-sector monopolies or oligopolies, as is now the case with the telecom industry (and, indeed, in the online travel booking sector, where Expedia has been systematically buying its competitors in the past year or so).<\/p>\n

As TTC, Metrolinx, and City officials begin their deep dive into the potentially beneficial relationship between conventional transit agencies and all these other operators, they\u2019d be well advised to have a close look at these commercial experiments in Helsinki and Hannover.<\/p>\n

Why? Despite the above-noted caveats, I\u2019d say the MaaS value proposition is highly compelling, and could provide one potential answer (among others) to this interesting question of how city-dwellers consume\u00a0the various urban travel options now on offer. After all, if residents can simply subscribe to a monthly package that gives them easy (and bulk discounted) access to a range of shared mobility services that extends across the complete chain of their travel needs, they\u2019ll have an incentive to use the\u00a0shared options\u00a0more. And therefore their private vehicles, less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I loath Rogers just as much as the next red-blooded Canadian, and, on certain days, possibly even more. But I have to give the telecom conglomerate, and others like it, credit for figuring out how to promote the idea of bundling all sorts of services and options, plus financial incentives, into an all-in-one offering. MyContinue reading “LORINC: Transit’s “last mile” solution may be mobility-as-a-service companies”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":56052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traffic","category-transit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: Transit's "last mile" solution may be mobility-as-a-service companies - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2016\/10\/11\/lorinc-transits-last-mile-solution-may-mobility-service-companies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: Transit's "last mile" solution may be mobility-as-a-service companies - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I loath Rogers just as much as the next red-blooded Canadian, and, on certain days, possibly even more. But I have to give the telecom conglomerate, and others like it, credit for figuring out how to promote the idea of bundling all sorts of services and options, plus financial incentives, into an all-in-one offering. 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