IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v171y2025icp282-295.html

Barriers towards enhancing mobility through integrated mobility services in a regional and rural context: insights from suppliers and organisers

Author

Listed:
  • Xi, Haoning
  • Nelson, John D.
  • Mulley, Corinne
  • Hensher, David A.
  • Ho, Chinh Q.
  • Balbontin, Camila

Abstract

This study explores the potential for integrated mobility services in a regional and rural context. In-depth interviews of stakeholders, including Non-Transport Providers and Transport Providers, were conducted in three regional locations in New South Wales, Australia. Findings revealed that the majority had a positive attitude towards integrated mobility services which could potentially form features of the mobility framework that are relevant to a future provision of Regional and Rural Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Those who expressed negative attitudes commonly had concerns about subscription fees, the reality of private car dependence in rural areas, and the digital usage by older people. The paper discusses the government's role in improving travel options which ensure equitable access to both local and regional transport services. Policy implications for necessary adjustments to the modal landscape as part of a MaaS offering, including the technology implications, are drawn. The results provide insights into the features of mobility services provided by various stakeholders and their fit within the mobility framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi, Haoning & Nelson, John D. & Mulley, Corinne & Hensher, David A. & Ho, Chinh Q. & Balbontin, Camila, 2025. "Barriers towards enhancing mobility through integrated mobility services in a regional and rural context: insights from suppliers and organisers," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 282-295.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:171:y:2025:i:c:p:282-295
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.06.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X25002379
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.06.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mulley, Corinne & Nelson, John D. & Ho, Chinh & Hensher, David A., 2023. "MaaS in a regional and rural setting: Recent experience," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 75-85.
    2. David A. Hensher & Sampo Hietanen, 2023. "Mobility as a feature (MaaF): rethinking the focus of the second generation of mobility as a service (MaaS)," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 325-329, May.
    3. Hensher, David A. & Nelson, John D. & Mulley, Corinne, 2022. "Electric car sharing as a service (ECSaaS) – Acknowledging the role of the car in the public mobility ecosystem and what it might mean for MaaS as eMaaS?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 212-216.
    4. McTigue, Clare & Rye, Tom & Monios, Jason, 2020. "Identifying barriers to implementation of local transport policy – Lessons learned from case studies on bus policy implementation in Great Britain," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 16-25.
    5. Åsa Hult & Liisa Perjo & Göran Smith, 2021. "Shared Mobility in Rural Contexts: Organizational Insights from Five Mobility-as-a-Service Pilots in Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    6. McTigue, Clare & Monios, Jason & Rye, Tom, 2018. "Identifying barriers to implementation of local transport policy: An analysis of bus policy in Great Britain," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 133-143.
    7. Mounce, Richard & Beecroft, Mark & Nelson, John D., 2020. "On the role of frameworks and smart mobility in addressing the rural mobility problem," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mulley, Corinne & Nelson, John D. & Ho, Chinh & Hensher, David A., 2023. "MaaS in a regional and rural setting: Recent experience," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 75-85.
    2. Yao, Enjian & Hao, He & Pan, Long & Chen, Rongsheng & Wang, Yue & Xiao, Hui, 2025. "Investigating the willingness of shifting to MaaS in one-trip scenarios: Insights from comparative stated surveys," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Kandanaarachchi, Thiranjaya B. & Nelson, John D. & Hensher, David A. & Mulley, Corinne & Wei, Edward & Ho, Chinh, 2025. "Establishing a framework of support to scale in mobility as a Service: Consolidated insights from the literature on potential governance frameworks," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. José Cáceres-Merino & Juan Francisco Coloma & Marta García & Andres Monzon, 2025. "The Unsustainable Proximity Paradox in Medium-Sized Cities: A Qualitative Study on User Perceptions of Mobility Policies," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, April.
    5. Iria Lopez-Carreiro & Andres Monzon & Elena Lopez, 2023. "MaaS Implications in the Smart City: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-27, July.
    6. Hensher, David A. & Nelson, John D. & Mulley, Corinne, 2022. "Electric car sharing as a service (ECSaaS) – Acknowledging the role of the car in the public mobility ecosystem and what it might mean for MaaS as eMaaS?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 212-216.
    7. Yu, JiangBo & Weng, JianCheng & Wang, Tian & Lin, PengFei & Sun, YuXing & Chai, JiaoLong, 2025. "How do differences in airline passengers’ satisfaction with connectivity modes affect last-mile travel choices? A SALC modeling based on RRM," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    8. McTigue, Clare & Monios, Jason & Rye, Tom, 2020. "The principal-agent problem in contracting public transport provision to private operators: A case study of the UK Quality Contract Scheme," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Peng, Yuan & Bai, Xuemei, 2023. "What EV users say about policy efficacy: Evidence from Shanghai," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 16-26.
    10. Namgung, Hyewon & Fujiwara, Akimasa & Yamamoto, Jenny & Zhang, Junyi, 2023. "Small and medium-sized taxi firm operators' stated choices of future business models: A case study in Japan based on hybrid choice model with panel effects," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    11. Weisbrod, Glen & Hensher, David A., 2023. "Improving transportation project evaluation by recognizing the role of spatial scale and context in measuring non-user economic benefits," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 80-89.
    12. Thea Xenia Wiesli & Ulf Liebe & Thomas Hammer & Roger Bär, 2021. "Sustainable Quality of Life: A Conceptualization That Integrates the Views of Inhabitants of Swiss Rural Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Aurore Flipo & Madeleine Sallustio & Nathalie Ortar & Nicolas Senil, 2021. "Sustainable Mobility and the Institutional Lock-In: The Example of Rural France," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    14. Wei Zhou & Haixia Wang & Victor Shi & Xiding Chen, 2022. "A Decision Model for Free-Floating Car-Sharing Providers for Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-18, July.
    15. Canitez, Fatih, 2020. "Transferring sustainable urban mobility policies: An institutional perspective," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1-12.
    16. Jain, Monika & Singh, Archana, 2024. "An empirical study on electric vehicle adoption in India: A step towards a greener environment," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 112-125.
    17. Smith, Göran & Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard, 2023. "Public-private MaaS: Unchallenged assumptions and issues of conflict in Sweden," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Tom Rye & Robert Hrelja, 2020. "Policies for Reducing Car Traffic and Their Problematisation. Lessons from the Mobility Strategies of British, Dutch, German and Swedish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-26, October.
    19. Weiwei Li & Ping Zhang & Kaixu Zhao & Hua Chen & Sidong Zhao, 2023. "The Evolution Model of and Factors Influencing Digital Villages: Evidence from Guangxi, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, March.
    20. Gómez-Carmona, Oihane & Buján-Carballal, David & Casado-Mansilla, Diego & López-de-Ipiña, Diego & Cano-Benito, Juan & Cimmino, Andrea & Poveda-Villalón, María & García-Castro, Raúl & Almela-Miralles, , 2023. "Mind the gap: The AURORAL ecosystem for the digital transformation of smart communities and rural areas," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:171:y:2025:i:c:p:282-295. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.