The heads of the three organizations which together unify the global ITS industry used the ITS World Congress in Singapore this week (October 21-25) to signal their commitment to driving all stakeholders forward with the implementation of MaaS (Mobility as a Service).
Hajime Amano (ITS Asia-Pacific), Jacob Bangsgaard (ERTICO-ITS Europe) and Shailen Bhatt (ITS America) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the ERTICO stand yesterday (October 23) making a commitment to push forward the rapid development of seamless, integrated transport systems and services in the three global regions.
The MoU promotes the development of common policies, standards, governance, business models and technologies in the MaaS industry. It also strengthens the interoperability and scalability of solutions and services. With this purpose, the three regions agree to co-organise dedicated MaaS market conferences in conjunction with the annual ITS World Congresses as well as other delegations of stakeholders, to leverage global synergies and to better understand the developments of the new business models and their applications in different environments.
“We have a large number of mega cities in Asia-Pacific region, where growth rate is so high that transportation network is not keeping up with the pace,” said Amano. “The efficient use of existing and emerging mobility services with MaaS is a key to mitigate mobility challenges and we have a lot to learn from European and American colleagues on technologies, policies and behavioural changes of people.”
“Regardless of the location we share the same objective to improve users’ mobility experience and services and tackle the burning challenges related to everyday mobility,” said Bangsgaard.
Bhatt added: “We want to focus on many of the critical issues such as data sharing, insurance, effective infrastructure and operations management, integrated trip planning and payment and others that create a more seamless mobility experience for users.”
Commenting on the wider Congress in a conversation with Traffic Technology Today, ERTICO chairman Angelos Amditis said, “It’s great to feel the energy of people that you see all around you. I’m really amazed at the exhibition and the huge level participation. It is excellent and beyond expectations. It means I have had the opportunity to see what’s happening in Asia, which for us in Europe is a totally different story. For example, Singapore is really doing a great job in terms of innovation and potential for these applications, including smart mobility.
“It’s important time to connect with Asia. This is one of the important elements of this Congress. And the fact that it’s taking place every year in a different continent, allows all the different stakeholders to come together and to really understand what’s happening in every continent. And this is crucial to this new era of smart mobility.”
