Mobility as a Service (MaaS) | Ep 70

Speaker A: M. Foreign.

Speaker B: Welcome to this month's edition of the JD Power Travel and Hospitality podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Sarah Baggott, and I'm joined today by our subject matter expert, Azari Jones. Azari, welcome to the pod.

Speaker A: Hey, uh, so good to be here. Thank you so much for having me today, Sarah. I appreciate it.

Speaker B: Absolutely. We're not usually on video, so it's exciting to sort of see your face and be talking about this, uh, new topic. Um, so this month we are doing things a little bit differently. We wanted to deep dive into a topic that is sort of new to us and new to the industry and that topic is mobility as a service. So I'm going to start real simple. Tell us what mobility as a service is.

Speaker A: Yes. So in, in layman terms to kind of help uh, the audience understand what it is. It's like an Amazon or Netflix for your vehicle. So pretty much instead of owning your, your own car, you can pretty much or own your own owning a car. You can, uh, all the transportation is into one app and so you can kind of book all your transportation um, through a subscription or through um, access to whenever you need it. So like a zip car or like Uber and live. But now the industry is looking to combine all of those into one. So um, if you had to do a cross country trip, you would do your, your bus, your scooter, your hail a ride from someone like carpooling or all in one app, um, for the benefits of uh, instead of juggling multiple apps and services to integrate it into one. So that's the easiest way to explain mobility as a service.

Speaker B: That sounds really interesting. It sounds a lot easier. So instead of having to have a rideshare app and an app for the subway and an app for the train, you could just use it all in one. Got it. Okay. Okay. Well I could definitely see where people would be excited about this, um, integrating all kinds of different modes of transportation. Uh, uh, can you walk me through some examples of maybe cities or companies that are doing this really well already?

Speaker A: Yes. So a good example are going to be, I'm going to do Metro, big larger cities because Los Angeles is an innovative city. I think every time I go to Los Angeles they have, they're pioneering some sort of technology. So something that LA is doing is where, um, they want to cut down on getting people off the roads which, if you've ever been in la traffic, it's, it's, or it's the zoo. Right. So something that they're doing is LA Metro is is partnering with other uh, rideshare and other mobility transportations to put it into one app. You can pay, you can schedule, you can schedule your, your, your subway, you can schedule all these things into one app. That way instead of using different apps or using different tools you don't have to do so. So LA is a great example. Um Uber and Uber and Lyft, uh everyone knows them as the ride share but they are also getting into car rentals. Um, they're getting into bike sharing, they're getting into the whole mobility process as well. Um, here where I am located in Texas we have the scooters on the river. We um, have Uber Black and all those things. So Uber and Lyft is expanding as well and also rental um, car companies are doing it. So it looks a little bit different but I think about one of our great partners, six six is going up subscription service based. So if you don't want to own a car you're able to rent the car at your flexibility. So instead of having to pay for insurance and all these things for a monthly fee you can subscribe and then you can rent the car as necessary. These are ways that mobility as a transportation as a service is continuing to grow. So it's going to look different um, for different for rental car to maybe ride sharing. But the idea really is to help those who don't want to own a car and convenience, the convenience of not having to and then the flexibility. So Los Angeles is doing a great job I believe also overseas you're going to see it more overseas because um, in the US we're still a pretty um car friendly uh place but overseas in like London and uh, even in Finland and all these places they're like encouraging people to get off the roads and do all those things. So they're really putting their trains, taxes and buses into one um mass uh tool.

Speaker B: So it sounds like a great option if maybe vehicle um ownership is out of reach financially or even if you're just you know someone who wants to sort of scale back and be able to use different modes of transportation.

Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. That's perfectly who is for the new generation coming up because you know car payments are, can be considered as astronomical or it's just you know hey maybe I don't need a car the whole time. Especially in those metro areas. So maybe not in your rural areas but for sure in your bigger cities. This is something that we're going to see uh, continue to, to happen.

Speaker B: I love the idea of being able to book uh a train ticket A bus ticket and a scooter, you know, all in one. That's kind of exciting.

Speaker A: Right? It's all about convenience. If you pay more like even if a rental, like for instance with the rental car subscription, even if you're going to pay maybe uh, 500amonth and think about someone living in a bigger city. 500amonth for a subscription, it's a nice car. I don't worry about the maintenance. It's, I don't have to worry about any of that mileage, all that I just get to drive it as needed. It really can be, could be seen as a benefit for those who um, don't want the responsibility of owning a car.

Speaker B: Definitely could see that. Uh, maybe, you know, as you mentioned, some traffic reduction, uh, maybe even improved accessibility. Right. If you're, you know, you need different modes of transportation, this might sort of open those doors, which is exciting.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Uh, well, we've talked a lot about how great mobility as a service is. Are there any potential disadvantages to um, implementing mobility as a service?

Speaker A: Yes, infrastructure. Infrastructure is going to be the biggest thing because not all cities have the technology or the transit systems to really support this. Right. Even New York, as great as it is in our large geographic cities, there's still car dependent cultures. Right, Cultures. So it's not going to be something quickly that people are going to pick up on um, costs again, subscriptions. I think about it like this, how we all probably got rid of cable but now we have all these subscriptions and we just might as well have stuff to cable because cost wise it's adding up. So that pay as you go model, it starts off really well but like we're seeing um, you know, price increase and the same thing could happen with mobility as a service because it's a similar concept like hey, it's really great but then you know, I have to pay a subscription here, there, um, as the market grows and then you're like hey, actually is this is really a lot more cost, uh, uh, expensive than car ownership. So those are some of the biggest challenges. Mobility as a service. But more so just the car dependent culture, um, especially for like a la. It's great. But people who want to have the freedom of really just having their own car being like no. And then like you're in New York where um, they're uh, even down to the infrastructure technology of transitioning a system to an app will be a heavy lift for any, any major city.

Speaker B: It'll definitely require a paradigm shift to work. I think you're, you're right. And you mentioned those bigger cities maybe being an advantage to deploy it quicker than rural areas. So lots to think about there as far as broadband availability. Right, yes. Um, so you mentioned that you might be able, in a mobility as a service app, be able to pay for all the services maybe at once, uh, which is definitely exciting. Um, but are there any concerns about sort of that collaboration between maybe you're using a private rideshare app, but you want to take public transit, maybe a subway or a bus and sort of getting all of those companies to talk together and work together and be on one app. Is that going to be a challenge?

Speaker A: Yes. So actually, uh, something that I read was that privacy concerns about your information, your uh, your information being shared as far as like your, your financial privacy. Um, you know, so if I'm on an app and Uber has this and then LA has this, or the Metro service has this, or bus has this, what does that look like? Um, as far as for a user having your information shared, you know, you don't want to be scammed. And I think, you know, the new joker, uh, going around is that people are getting these scam messages about you have a toll that you have to pay. Right. And it's like, you know, people don't want to have their information sent out and figure out that, hey, you know, I want to use one app, but I don't want my information sent to all these places. I want to make sure it's secure kind of data privacy. Um, so those are uh, some of the things when it comes to cost and also the subscription models, these people have to integrate together or find a way to do so. And it's possible, it just may take time. But that is a concern that users, um, public, you know, users information, financial information may be shared and could possibly be sold on the Internet.

Speaker B: An interesting consideration, especially for our times. I know we're always hearing about a privacy breach or a data breach every other day. Uh, so that would, security would certainly be an important investment here. Um, you mentioned that Sixt is doing a sort of innovative rental subscription service. Um, so it sounds like mobility as a service could have a lot of momentum in that rental car industry, specifically. Um, do you feel like mobility as a service is going to affect, affect the travel industry as a whole or rental cars really specifically, or what do you kind of envision the future of this movement to be?

Speaker A: So it's still pretty new, but we are seeing, um, there are some things that you can notice like mobility as a service would be for Instance Hilton, uh, uh, if you're a Hilton member, they have partnership with Lyft. So you can book your, you can book your room and book your, your car service all through their app. Right. You can book your lift through that and it helps kind of just integrate. Hey, we see you're out at so and so hotel. Would you like, you know, get a lift for dinner? And it's literally right on the app. So those are things that you're seeing as well, like the cross, um, crossing of uh, hotels and, and transportation. Um, you're probably also going to see as we become more environmentally concerned, uh, people are probably going to want to, when they go abroad or here, they're not going to want to get, or get their own car because they want to cut down on emissions and et cetera. So we'll see that. As far as rental car, I think we're going to see the rental car industry, um, develop ways to work alongside ride hailing or develop their own. Maybe, you know, I would even, I haven't seen it. But maybe, um, in response to that, you'll see more partnerships or, hey, we'll just take our own and do our own thing. But so instead of renting a car at the airport, um, travelers might rely more on the, um, ride hailing or public transportation. And then car rentals will want to get involved in that so that they're not losing the customer base, um, because it is changing. You know, I don't know the last time people have rented cars from the airport. Um, but they do. They're, they are working on ways to keep up and the subscription base is, is one way to do that.

Speaker B: Well, it's an exciting time of innovation, it sounds like, for all of the travel and hospitality industry as well as mobility as a service. Thank you so much for sharing some information and some insight into this topic with us today. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it over the coming months and years, right?

Speaker A: Yeah, we'll be hearing more and even some cool things. I just want to make a point that this isn't eliminating rental, uh, cars. It's about evolving how we access transportation. So rental cars will be here because that's the thing. Like we, you're always going to need to rent a car. But the industry is just evolving like most things have, um, especially as we get to digital mobility. They're even have, they even have flying taxis now. Um, Uber is partnering with a company called Joby over. I think they might be in a couple of urban areas where it's flying taxis autonomous. So there's nobody in the pilot. There's nobody in the pilot seat. And these are autonomous taxis, so you can avoid traffic altogether. So it's, it's coming. Flying taxis are coming. I mean, they're in Europe. They're testing them out for emergencies, um, when people have car, you know, all these great things. So, um, it's coming. And again, this is not about a limiting rental cars. This is just the way transportation is evolving, um, as we get, as we continue into the digital age, well, lots

Speaker B: of change in the air. Very exciting. I know JD Power will be keeping our eyes on all of this data and sort of, you know, helping. Helping set the tone for what we need to know and what consumers need to know about mobility as a service. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us today. Yeah. Well, thank you all for joining us for the March episode of the JD Power Travel and Hospitality Podcast. We'll be talking about this topic and many more in the months to come, and we look forward to seeing you next time.