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ITS Australia Summit 2023

Mobility-as-a-Service, platform use and social entrepreneurship: Lessons from South America to Australia

Abstract

Talk Description

Institution: University of Technology Sydney - New South Wales, Australia

Digital platforms are becoming integral elements of urban transport systems, and more recently, platform technology has dominated the debate in implementing Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) systems. However, for all the discussions on the impact of digital platforms on mobility and the deterministic technological nature of MaaS discourse, little attention is paid to the social engagement of these systems. In other words, how people use these technologies. This research focuses on how entrepreneurial communities of mobility users and providers using digital platforms can challenge preconceptions around what constitutes MaaS and introduce a narrative for achieving more human-centred and mobility justice goals. This research opens up the discussion around designing a MaaS policy that considers how urban and regional residents incorporate platforms into everyday mobility practices and what this might mean for mobility justice, mobility capital, and human mobilities in general. People’s everyday engagement with a range of mobility options and platforms provides insight into how MaaS policy may foster equitable transport outcomes for groups that may be overlooked, marginalised or unrecognised. This research from South America which utilises a human-centred approach has much significance for other contexts like Australia to inform future policy directions which aim to promote mobility justice values and develop a MaaS oriented towards the people that use it.

Speakers