Project overview
Mobility as a Service (MaaS), a burgeoning concept in sustainable transport, describes systems that aim to facilitate multi-modal, non-private-car travel by integrating various forms of transportation services into a single journey-planning and ticketing platform.
After over a decade of research, discussions around MaaS are growing more prevalent in the mainstream literature. Many governments are now describing an official position on, or providing policy related to, how MaaS could be implemented and how its potential benefits could be realised. The UK government’s MaaS Code of Practice, released in August 2023, does just this. It includes a section on accessibility and inclusion; however, research in this area is severely limited, especially research on disabled people’s experiences of MaaS.
MaaS has the potential to facilitate disabled people’s journeys through its capacity to provide enhanced information and support complex, door-to-door journey planning and booking. How it might realise its potential is not yet clear.
The MaaS for Disabled Travellers project, funded by the Motability Foundation, addresses that gap in knowledge. It is situated in the context of the Solent Future Transport Zone (FTZ), one of four government-funded zones across the UK. Solent FTZ is the most advanced MaaS scheme currently running in the UK.
Despite its success, the project has neglected disabled people’s experiences of MaaS. The MaaS for Disabled Travellers project rectifies that omission through a series of interviews, workshops, and questionnaire studies with disabled people in the Solent region and beyond. It explores the barriers to multi-modal journeys that disabled people face, how these barriers might be mitigated by a MaaS system, and how to best to design MaaS apps that help disabled people travel sustainably.
This project is a collaboration between the Transportation Research Group and Transport for All, a disabled-led group breaking down barriers and transforming the transport system so that disabled people can make the journeys they want, with freedom, dignity, ease, and confidence.
After over a decade of research, discussions around MaaS are growing more prevalent in the mainstream literature. Many governments are now describing an official position on, or providing policy related to, how MaaS could be implemented and how its potential benefits could be realised. The UK government’s MaaS Code of Practice, released in August 2023, does just this. It includes a section on accessibility and inclusion; however, research in this area is severely limited, especially research on disabled people’s experiences of MaaS.
MaaS has the potential to facilitate disabled people’s journeys through its capacity to provide enhanced information and support complex, door-to-door journey planning and booking. How it might realise its potential is not yet clear.
The MaaS for Disabled Travellers project, funded by the Motability Foundation, addresses that gap in knowledge. It is situated in the context of the Solent Future Transport Zone (FTZ), one of four government-funded zones across the UK. Solent FTZ is the most advanced MaaS scheme currently running in the UK.
Despite its success, the project has neglected disabled people’s experiences of MaaS. The MaaS for Disabled Travellers project rectifies that omission through a series of interviews, workshops, and questionnaire studies with disabled people in the Solent region and beyond. It explores the barriers to multi-modal journeys that disabled people face, how these barriers might be mitigated by a MaaS system, and how to best to design MaaS apps that help disabled people travel sustainably.
This project is a collaboration between the Transportation Research Group and Transport for All, a disabled-led group breaking down barriers and transforming the transport system so that disabled people can make the journeys they want, with freedom, dignity, ease, and confidence.