By Andreas Benker, Customer Insights Lead at MaaS Global
We know that for congested cities MaaS can and will provide a solution that enables people using less their own cars and shift to multimodal travel using existing modes of transport. But what is it that people value about a MaaS solution? Is it the availability of modes, reducing their CO2 footprint, saving time and/or money? We wanted to know more. So we partnered up with a master student from Aalto University who was working on her master’s thesis with us about customer value of MaaS.
Collaborating with students who are experts in their field is for one important to us in order to make sure we follow and apply state-of-the-art research methods. Furthermore, giving students -who are excited about the mobility industry and replacing car ownership with a MaaS solution that provides even more value than using a car – a place to work on their research project is a privilege and enables us to contribute to the academic community and society at large.
So what do people value most in a MaaS solution? Well, there are two sides to this question. One is the perceived or rather emotional value (just like SUVs give you the promise that you can at anytime go offroad and enjoy the freedom – which most people owning SUVs will never do but having the possibility to do so is just as powerful). The other one is the more predictive or rational value, which can be measured in monetary spendings, time-saving, convenience, you name it.
In our research we found that most people do not attribute the most value to Whim because it can save them time or money – but rather because it offers them the flexibility to choose amongst several modes based on their habitual mobility behaviors. This is one of the service promises of MaaS and despite being more of a perceived value (just like SUVs, you could at anytime use different modes) it shows that people want this freedom of choice and knowing that at anytime they can change from their preferred or habitual way of moving to another mode if they want to. Another aspect that our customers appreciated highly about using Whim is that it is an innovative service. You might wonder how this relates to actual value of the service but yes, people want to be part of change and showing that they belong to and can impact new developments in the mobility industry. So using innovative mobility services enables their intrinsic motivation to travel more efficiently as well as their extrinsic motivation to show their peers how travelling smarter can look like.
Another aspect our research shows is that one of the reasons why people are satisfied with Whim is they understand and appreciate that they can reduce their carbon footprint using a MaaS solution. It is clear that people are more conscious of their consumption choices – and this applies to mobility and choosing specific modes of transport just as much. It clearly shows people want transparency and being informed about their travel habits to make better and conscious decisions about the modes they use.
Share
