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To begin exploring this future-proof, integrated approach to sustainable mobility, Arcadis and the city of Amsterdam are running an experiment to test the feasibility and desirability of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The idea is to create an open platform connecting all modes of transport—enabling the planning of journeys, reservations using for example, shared vehicles and a single payment system. To be able to truly optimize the use of all methods and modes of transport, the hypothesis is that we need a seamless customer experience through all modes. The test area is an international business district, Zuidas. Zuidas will undergo major construction works over the next 10 years to improve the accessibility of the district by public transport and by road—including the widening and tunneling of a major motorway, the expansion of the railway station and the consolidation of transportation modes. As part of the national ‘Beter Benutten’ (optimizing use) program, the Dutch government is seeing this as an opportunity to try to change travel behavior and shift people towards more sustainable modes.
The Zuidas Mobility Experience is a pilot MaaS project where participants who currently drive to Zuidas for work are challenged to change their mobility patterns for a month and truly employ the prototype of Mobility as a Service. This might mean they use their smart card, Zuidas Pas, to use a combination of railways, bike share and taxi (or more) to get in and around the district. In future iterations, the goal will be to have all transport options digitally connected into one seamless experience on one app, instead of making the connections manually where necessary and using multiple apps.
Using this data, basic assumptions about MaaS could be tested and shows there is an ability to scale MaaS to more and more people. As people start making different choices for their mobility enabled by this flexible solution, we will likely see a decrease on the pressure of the crowded road network in Amsterdam’s business district.
