MaaS Bundling and Acceptance in the Pandemic Era: Evidence from Padua, Italy

Abstract

Given the benefits both individuals and collectivity have achieved over the past few years thanks to Mobility-as-Service (MaaS) systems, various studies were conducted to predict the level of acceptance of MaaS bundles from different territorial scales and in different countries. Results obtained are in some cases contradictory. Literature is lacking in the study of small-to-medium-sized urban contexts and in the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to understand (1) what factors influence respondents’ preferences between their usual transportation means and a possible MaaS alternative and (2) what leads a user to prefer one MaaS bundle to another. A logistic regression and a mixed logit model were developed to reach the two aims, respectively. These models were calibrated using questionnaires administered to employees of the Municipality of Padua, a medium-sized city in Italy. Aspects concerning the perception of health safety in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic were included in the analyses. In 37% of the cases, users stated they would be willing to adopt at least one of the proposed MaaS bundles. The results suggest that MaaS solutions can be a useful tool for managing mobility even in medium-sized cities, provided users’ biosecurity concerns are addressed by appropriate countermeasures.