Towards a reduction in private cars use? Comparative intentions to use urban and regional mobility as a service bundles in four European countries

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) aggregates various mobility services to facilitate seamless multimodal planning, booking, and payment through a single app. Among the objectives of MaaS is to enhance environmentally conscious travel habits through the provision of viable alternatives to solo driving. Focusing on demand factors, this study aims to identify the factors that characterize the intention to use MaaS bundles in general, and to examine the particular factors associated with the intention to use non-urban MaaS bundles (inter-urban or extra-urban MaaS bundles, referred to as regional MaaS bundles here). In order to establish the profiles of users of such bundles, we apply discrete choice models to a stated-preference survey conducted in four European countries: France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Our findings indicate that there is a limited degree of overlap between the intention to use regional MaaS bundles and the characteristics of general MaaS adoption. Potential users of MaaS are younger and have access to comprehensive mobility services, whereas potential users of regional MaaS bundles are more frequently childless, have a lower education level, and live in France, as well as the United Kingdom. While environmental awareness is found to be positively associated with MaaS adoption in general, it is negatively related to regional MaaS adoption. Decision-makers should consider socio-demographic specifics, attitudes, and perceptions of transport systems. This multifaceted approach could facilitate the provision of environmentally-friendly alternatives to solo driving, thereby serving as a preliminary step in the development of appealing regional MaaS bundles.