Economic and Environmental Impacts of Tag-less Framework

Abstract

Mobility as a service (MaaS) has garnered significant academic attention recently. MaaS focuses on integrating various modes of transport so that mobility can be packaged as a single complete service. The main idea of MaaS is to combine different transport modes, such as public transport, bicycles, and PM, optimize trip efficiency and provide a complete process to passengers. There are many transport modes but each mode runs separately without a system that integrates them. The current public transport pricing system requires a card to be tagged when alighting and boarding, which causes congestions and delays in the operation of public transport. With a tag-less system, the connectivity among each mode can be improved by providing a comprehensive transport service, in which the time spent on tagging the cards can be reduced. This study aims to analyze the effects of a tag-less transportation system. First, a tag-less system can form a mobility platform, which increases the convenience of the transport system. This could be the foundation of MaaS and door-to-door services. Next, it can reduce the expenditure of transport operators, and adjust headways so that more people can use public transport. Finally, the travel time can be reduced, which can be a great reason to induce more people to use public transport instead of private cars. As the travel time decreases owing to adopting a tag-less system, the mode share of cars can be decreased approximately by 8.4 %. Furthermore, due to reduced mode share of car, environmental benefits are obtained. It is found that emissions can be reduced up to 15.8%. It is expected that a tag-less system can help realize the MaaS network with various other positive effects.