Moving Towards a Reduced Use of Private Cars? Comparative Intentions to Use Urban and Rural Mobility as a Service Bundles in Four European Countries

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) aggregates various mobility offers to facilitate seamless multimodal planning, booking, and payment through a single app. Among the objectives of MaaS is the enhancement of environmentally conscious travel habits, through the provision of viable alternatives to solo driving. Focusing on demand factors, this study aims to reveal 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, considered here as rural MaaS bundles). In order to ascertain the profiles of users of such bundles, we apply discrete choice models to a stated-preference survey launched in four European countries: France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom. Our findings indicate that the intention to use rural MaaS bundles exhibits a limited degree of overlap with the characteristics of general MaaS adoption. The potential users of MaaS are young, reside in the United Kingdom, and benefit from a comprehensive mobility offer. The potential users of rural 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 positively associated with MaaS adoption in general, it is negatively related to rural 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 rural MaaS bundles.