Ramboll’s Whimpact Study Reveals that Public Transportation is the Backbone of Mobility as a Service
Ramboll’s Analysis of Whim’s First Year Data is the First-Ever Research to Report on the Current State of Mobility as a Service
Helsinki, Finland, March 28th 2019 - MaaS Global and Ramboll today announced “Whimpact: Insights from the World's First Mobility as a Service Solution,” an impact study focused on reporting on the current state of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The report is based on actual annual data from Whim, the world’s first MaaS service commercially available, which brings together various modes of transportation under one monthly subscription. In the study, engineering and design consultancy Ramboll analyzed data of 70 000 registered users based on Whim’s first operating year in Helsinki, Finland. Whimpact reveals results on how people use MaaS and how that compares to overall usage of transportation services in a particular city.
The study’s key findings indicate that public transportation is the backbone of MaaS:
- Whim users make 73% of their trips with public transportation compared to 48% trips made by the average citizen.
- 42% of all Whim users’ city bike trips are combined with public transportation.
- Whim users are steeped into multimodalism, using both bicycles and taxis to solve the first mile - last mile problem.
- Whim users combine taxis three times more often with public transportation, compared to other users in Helsinki on average.
- Whim customers use a wide range of transportation services, and they are clearly shifting to sustainable mobility patterns, which will have a major impact on city congestion and car dependency.
According to the estimates by the United Nations, 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Cities are facing great challenges to keep up with the growth using their transportation systems, which creates a need for new transport solutions and services to simplify the trip making process for citizens. Through the MaaS platform, users can access a variety of transportation services covering each individual mobility need. While expanding cities struggle against growing congestion and CO2 emissions, public transportation infrastructure becomes an increasingly important element for the livability of the cities.
“It is hard to do anything significant for the environment before people are willing to give up their cars. At the moment, the utilisation rate of passenger cars is around four percent and the rest of the time the cars stand still,” explains MaaS Global’s Head of Ecosystem and Sustainability Krista Huhtala-Jenks. “The study was required to prove the impact MaaS has on solving issues related to traffic and CO2 emissions. No one service provider can solve the transportation and traffic problems of the future alone, so open APIs and collaboration among all transportation service providers (TSP) is required to serve the end user needs best. All TSPs can be part of the global solution, for the cities and for the planet - the one that makes people ditch their cars because they find something better.”
"Whim users seem to be more open to combine different mobility options and to try out new mobility services such as city bikes. They are using taxis as a first and last mile service three times more than the average Helsinki citizens. Should this behavior become even more common trend, it will help cities to solve their congestion problems, make urban areas more pedestrian friendly and help cities to meet their sustainability goals,” says Ramboll’s Smart Mobility Division Director Jukka-Pekka Pitkänen.
The study reviewed the data of the first year of Whim use with respect to: travel behaviour, urban development/Helsinki transport system, the MaaS concept and whether MaaS will lead to a less car-dependent city.
Read the full report Whimpact - Insights from the world's first Mobility as a Service solution here: https://ramboll.com/-/media/files/rfi/publications/Ramboll_whimpact-2019
Read the extract of the Whimpact study here: https://whimapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/190327_Whimpact_report_1920x1080.pdf
Press images: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1gDKsbxvwqCgoAmGT1JP4J0Nqh4Rs2S5i
Further information and interview inquiries:
Krista Huhtala-Jenks, Head of Ecosystem and Sustainability, MaaS Global
krista.huhtala-jenks@maas.global, +358 40 759 3718
Jukka-Pekka Pitkänen, Global Division Director, Smart Mobility, Ramboll, +358 40 738 4190,
jukkis@ramboll.fi
About MaaS Global
MaaS Global is the world’s first true Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) operator with its award-winning Whim app, which provides users all city transport services in one app. With over three million trips made since its launch in December 2017, Whim is the first all-inclusive MaaS solution commercially available on the market. Whim allows users to journey where and when they want with public transport, taxis, rental cars, and many other options, all under a single monthly subscription. Whim has revolutionized users’ travel habits, in favor of circular modes. MaaS Global was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The company is funded by Toyota Financial Services, Karsan Otomotiv, Transdev, Aioi Nissay Dowa, Denso and Veho and the total amount of investments is 24.2 million euros.
https://maas.global/
https://whimapp.com
About Ramboll
Ramboll is a leading engineering, design and consultancy company founded in Denmark in 1945. The company employs 15,000 experts globally and has especially strong representation in the Nordics, UK, North America, Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. With 300 offices in 35 countries, Ramboll combines local experience with a global knowledgebase constantly striving to achieve inspiring and exacting solutions that make a genuine difference to our clients, the end-users, and society at large. Ramboll works across the following markets: Buildings, Transport, Planning & Urban Design, Water, Environment & Health, Energy and Management Consulting. More information available at ramboll.com.
