Every individual or family has their own daily routine whether that involves the school run, the commute for work, visiting friends or family or shopping. How this routine is achieved will depend upon where the individual or family not only resides but factors including but not limited to income, availability of transport options but ultimately there is an element, large or small, of choice.
The car is often the preferred mode in many areas as that choice can offer flexibility but not everyone can afford a car or indeed has a licence. Words that are unique to the transport sector to describe these phenomena include travel behaviour, trip chains or tours and there are many articles and journal papers exploring these concepts.
However, one critical factor that transport planners and policy makers have little control over is the role of the weather in the UK on travel behaviour or trip chains. Weather is such an emotive issue for the British population so what impact could this have on the adoption of more integrated transport services as proposed by the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
MaaS is a complex term with no harmonised meaning but for now, imagine and visualise a Victoria sponge cake. There are many different ingredients for MaaS, but for now, the focus is on the finished product which has two sponge layers with the jam in between.
MaaS is very similar in that one layer involves the integration of transport modes such as train, bike, bus and car whilst the top layer provides additional personalised tailored services. Within the cake, the jam in the middle represents the user as they use the transport services, while the top layer uses clever data analysis tools from layer one to offer a customised journey and tailor offerings/services to the user.
The services offered will be based upon the personalised data gathered in layer one of the cake when choosing the mode of transport. This additionality to the user is seen as ‘the icing on the cake’ by transport operators and policy makers, assuming that the user wants these additional services!
Sticking with the Victoria Sponge analogy, assuming the public is happy to cut a slice and have a piece of cake each day when undertaking their daily routine of travel, what happens when an unexpected factor such as the weather intervenes (In 2020, the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic could be described as an unexpected factor, however for the purposes of this article we are looking at, normal unexpected factors. COVID-19 was sprung upon society whereas the weather is constant).
Disruption, delay, fear, uncertainty or all concerns for the travellers. For example, can I ride my ebike on ice, is my childs school bus operating, how will I get to work, how long will my trip take, will the bus/train be operating. All these are natural and instinctive reactions on a day when the weather intervenes.
The original choices in the mode of transport are often a sub and conscious decision in that in the UK the use of an e-bike in snow or ice is deemed very challenging even with the correct tyres, however in Finland, cycling in such conditions is normal and something I’ve witnessed. Herein lies a cultural factor which inherently affects the unexpected intervention in the UK.
With this in mind, the role that MaaS in the UK can play when weather interferes will be different to other countries. As yet the role of unexpected interventions, such as weather, to a user’s daily routine has yet to be fully explored and addressed by those implementing MaaS solutions and technology.
For MaaS to be a dependable and desirable solution to the user (the jam), the unexpected interventions aren't the ‘icing on the cake’ but a core ingredient without which the cake won’t rise, and when baked, the slices won’t be eaten (user uptake is short lived), and ultimately the cake will be left untouched (MaaS will be a term assigned to history).
A successful Victoria sponge does require many ingredients but like the jam, the user lies at the heart. Without full consideration of all factors (ingredients) in the user journey/routine, we won’t be eating a nice Victoria sponge cake.