‘Properly designed MaaS expected to improve Qatar’s public transportation’ – The Peninsula

‘Properly designed MaaS expected to improve Qatar’s public transportation’ – The Peninsula

In a bid to encourage more patronage of public transportation, the Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center (QTTSC) at Qatar University is carrying out research to explore the success of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in Qatar.

MaaS is a data-driven and consumer-centric model of people transportation. It can include any combination of transport methods such as car and bike sharing, taxis and car rentals/leases and provides everything for the consumer from travel planning to payments.

Speaking to The Peninsula, Dr. Mohammed Y Al Qaradawi, Director of QTTSC, said people usually find it challenging to change from driving their cars to using public transport.

“Cars provide convenience, flexibility, comfort, and independence. Public transport services need to match or come close to those attributes for people to consider it. However, in recent times, the pleasure of driving has been deteriorating due to congestion on the roads,” Dr. Al Qaradawi noted.

“Meanwhile, developments in transportation technologies and services enable access to different modes of travel (personal car, public bus, metro, E-scooter and bike rental, taxi ride, car rental, ride-hailing) whenever needed, from a single integrated platform. This is called Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). It is considered the future of transportation and in line with the Smart City initiative