9th February, London
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is an integration of various modes of transport services into a single mobility service, accessible on demand. The EU-funded MyCorridor project expands on MaaS by building a system that could make MaaS work across countries. Project partners recently organised a first European workshop (in a series of three) to introduce the project to a wider audience and approach the challenges of implementing MaaS from the legal, governmental and research perspectives. More than 50 stakeholders attended.
Hosted in London by our project partner, the UK-based legal practice Osborne Clarke LLP, the workshop opened with a short animation illustrating the MyCorridor project’s objectives. The first keynote was given by Christopher Irwin, Member of the European Passengers’ Federation (EPF) Council. Mr. Irwin offered a clear overview of MaaS and explained the added value of the project.
“There are three interesting aspects in MyCorridor. Firstly, its educational quality: it will teach people what Mobility as a Service (Maas) is all about. Then there is its experimental side: it will test the concept through pilots. Thirdly, it will bring together practitioners in different areas to create synergies that are necessary to create something useful for MaaS across the European continent.” Christopher Irwin, Member of the European Passengers’ Federation (EPF) Council.
Other workshop speakers included Ivo Cré, Deputy Director at POLIS Network who looked at the role of local governments in developing MaaS, concluding that the involvement of local authorities is still very limited. He agreed with the previous speaker that there are risks in developing a purely commercial approach to MaaS.
Jeremy Godley & Marie-Claire Smith from Osborne Clarke LLP, summarised the main legal issues for MaaS stakeholders, such as market access, payment regulation, competition law, contractual issues, liability and public procurement amongst others. They highlighted the importance of data protection and privacy for MyCorridor and MaaS in general, especially in view of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into force this upcoming May.
MyCorridor technical coordinators from the Hellenic Institute of Transport of Centre for Research and Technology Hellas – (CERTH/HIT) outlined the project’s vision, objectives and implementation approach. The interactive session towards the end of the workshop was an excellent way to survey the participants on their views regarding needs and priorities, policy, market and other issues relevant to the project’s success. The set of unique audience insights from the session can be obtained by members of the MyCorridor Interest Group. Join the Interest Group.
Roberto Palacin, Project Coordinator and Senior Researcher at the University of Newcastle, closed the workshop and expressed his optimism about the future of mobility, with projects such as MyCorridor potentially paving the way for a better, easier and more inclusive MaaS.
To consult the programme of this event, please go here.
For the presentations, please visit the Project Library.
By Masha Tarle. Communication Manager IRU Projects
