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TravelSpirit champions open transportation protocols for Europe

In launching TravelSpirit Europe – which will include the UK, Switzerland and other non-EU countries – TravelSpirit Foundation is calling for a new approach to the strategic interplay between transport and technology that focuses on achieving system interoperability, data portability and seamless outcomes for people and goods on the move.

With support from industry, including our strategic partnership with Europe’s Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Alliance, TravelSpirit Europe will curate an open ecosystem of cities, disruptive thinkers, tech firms and transport operators – drawn from all transport sectors.

James Gleave, Executive Director of TravelSpirit Foundation

It will act as an investment and common infrastructure platform to develop the necessary open protocols and encourage open technology development by its ecosystem, to common MaaS industry standards . This will ensure seamless handover across borders and across various modes – including automotive, airlines, public transport and sharing economy / new mobility services.

In this way, the strategic goal of TravelSpirit Europe will be to enable the faster scaling up of innovative service solutions – many of which emerging from European start-up hotspots in Helsinki, Barcelona, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin – for enabling more efficient cross border movements and trade.

Stefano Mainero, Regional Chair of TravelSpirit Europe

TravelSpirit Europe will formally launch on 11th April 2019, in Brussels at Open Mobility Conference 2019 – the world’s first open ecosystem development event for the future of mobility. This event is being supported by a range of organisations, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA), SGInnovate (Singapore), Autonomy & the Urban Mobility Summit, the City of Antwerp and Europcar Mobility Group.

Cross border movements will be a theme for one of our workshop sessions, co-facilitated by Iconic Blockchain CTO and Global Chair of TravelSpirit Foundation, Simon Herko (aka Si Ho) and Chairman of the Share & Charge Foundation, Dietrich Sümmermann.

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New partnership to foster an open ecosystem for Mobility as a Service

TravelSpirit Foundation and MaaS Alliance have formed a partnership to undertake collaborative work of technologists, operators, and innovators to develop an open ecosystem for Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently, TravelSpirit and MaaS Alliance will share knowledge and best practices on enabling the development of open source technologies, including blockchain, that will underpin MaaS, and empowering the communities that deliver them.

The two organisations will also collaborate on thought leadership in this field, building upon the industry-leading work of both parties. They are also looking to empower and bring together a global community of MaaS implementers, which will be unique in its ambition.

Both organisations are already established as thought leaders in MaaS. TravelSpirit Foundation has built a global network of activists, innovators, technologists, policy makers, and mobility providers. TravelSpirit is a leading organisation in championing an Open Internet of Mobility, and advocating transformative technologies such as blockchain on transportation business models and infrastructure. Its recent publications include papers on blockchain-enabled Decentralised MaaS (with Transport Systems Catapult) and on the TSio Protocol (with Iconic Blockchain).

“TravelSpirit has stated from the start that the new world of Mobility as a Service needs to be open if it is to reach its potential.” Giles Bailey, CEO of TravelSpirit said. “Signing this partnership agreement with the MaaS Alliance is a real boost in facilitating the collaboration needed to make this happen. I look forward to working with them!”

“The MaaS Alliance will collaborate with TravelSpirit to create a well-functioning basis for the MaaS ecosystem and preconditions for fast and wide roll-out of Mobility as a Service. The partnership very much supports the goals of the MaaS Alliance, and I anticipate that this collaboration will be widely beneficial for everyone involved” said Jacob Bangsgaard, the President of the MaaS Alliance.

For more information contact:

Beate Kubitz: beate.kubitz@travelspirit.io | +44 (0) 7974 369240

Notes

The TravelSpirit Foundation was established in Manchester, UK, in 2016 to provide an open framework to ensure that new integrated mobility services are environmentally sound, socially useful and universally accessible. Our vision is underpinned by four core values of universality, open innovation, global community and local benefit.

The Open Internet of Mobility (IoM) is a framework for enabling MaaS integration for all mobility service providers and users anywhere in the world, opening the mobility service marketplace, democratising access between users and service providers, and integrating new mobility services with existing transport infrastructure. The IoM framework will help realise the full social and economic benefits of transport-technology, such as MaaS Apps, Autonomous Vehicles, 5G connectivity and Blockchain.

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Openness in Paying for Transport – TravelSpirit Whitepaper 7

Transport users have long sought to be able to buy transport in one purchase to cover all aspects of their end to end journey. Over the past 50 years there have been many attempts to offer users these services, but most have survived for only a short time or in restricted markets. Technology now offers many new possibilities for more widespread joint ticketing approaches. This paper reviews how opening up payment systems could overcome many of the most important barriers to enable seamless payment for transport across all modes of travel.

Download White Paper

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Transport Blockchain Protocol Announces Information Event

Transport blockchain protocol, TSio Protocol, will launch its white paper at an information event held by London based solicitors, Mills and Reeve, on 28 February, 1200-1500.

The event will outline the TSio Protocol approach to blockchain-enabled secure, transparent and efficient integration of multiple transport operators, and the opportunities this will provide.

“The TSio Protocol will provide fair and open market access with smart contract mechanisms in order to enforce agreements between the travelling consumer and transport provider.”

Si Ho (Founder of TSio Protocol and Chair of TravelSpirit Foundation)

The event will showcase the framework set up by the partners in the project and invite participation and support from the wider transport community.

“Blockchain, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence technologies are now stepping towards a level of maturity ready to offer the transport industry, in combination with existing Web technologies, a universal, secure and scalable platform.”

Sir Nic Cary  (Chair of TravelSpirit UK)

TSio Community members include early adopters MyDex, an identity and consent management platform, MyLoop, a wearable technology for public transit and GoMetro, a private shuttle service and public transit planning platform.

“Without efficient, secure and convenient universal interoperability, that can provide transport consumers a single mobility account, we believe the integrated transport market opportunity is unlikely to reach what should be its full potential.”

Justin Coetzee (CEO – GoMetro)

Register Now!

For more information about TSio Protocol visit TSio

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TravelSpirit submits evidence on MaaS to UK Parliament

TravelSpirit recommends openness in written evidence to the UK Transport Committee.

TravelSpirit submitted evidence to the Transport Committee call for evidence on Mobility as a Service last month recommending that the Committee seeks the most open implementation of MaaS possible. Only this approach will accrue the broadest economic and social benefits and ensure access for all, so that those living in rural areas, the disabled, the elderly and the poorest in society — are protected from narrow, self-interest service implementations.

Whilst there are competing definitions of exactly what MaaS comprises, Travelspirit sees that, regardless of what the end state of MaaS looks like, it needs to be based on values of:

  •         Universality, where integrated and connected systems provide a path to sustainable and equitable transport;
  •         Open innovation that rewards sharing information and solutions, to everyone’s benefit;
  •         Global community working to tackle mobility and transport challenges;
  •         Local benefit where positive change is demonstrated at a community level.
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Assessing Openness and Maturity in MaaS – our index developed in conjunction with UCL MaasLab

In 2017 TravelSpirit developed an index to asses transport networks’ openness as they move towards Mobility as a Service. This index has been further developed by Richard Goulding at the UCL MaaSLab to assess the readiness of metropolitan areas for the implementation of MaaS systems.

Various characteristics which affect the likelihood of a successful MaaS implementation are assessed to determine an aggregate score showing how ready a city is to implement MaaS.

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Whitepaper 6: TSio Protocol: The Internet of Mobility

Integrated, seamless, secure and roaming mobility infrastructure for connected people and cars.

This Paper anticipates an emerging trend for integration of transport services, representing a $1 trillion per annum market concept called Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Rather than having to locate, book, and pay for each mode of transportation separately, MaaS will enable seamless planning, booking and itinerary management of door-to-door trips, wherever in the world you are.

It argues that services will remain constrained and delivered in silos, without a common rule set and governing framework. This framework will be implemented in a common machine-readable schema, with accompanying behavioural guidance, to govern interoperability between transport modes and across regional and international borders – the Internet of Mobility. It then proposes such a framework and advocates the development of TSio Protocol as a first step, by delivering seamless, secure and roaming global mobility account infrastructure for consumers and vehicles, using Blockchain & IoT technologies.

Continue reading “Whitepaper 6: TSio Protocol: The Internet of Mobility”

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TravelSpirit Openness Q&A

Openness is essential to Mobility as a Service. From end to end journeys across modes to monthly bundled mobility packages, nothing that is truly useful to travelers can be created without some degree of openness between at least some combination of operators, mobility as a service providers, and data providers

Read our brief summary of openness, who needs to be open and what it offers here.

Download: TravelSpirit Openness Q&A

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TravelSpirit Second Annual Conference

Practical approaches to embedding Mobility as a Service

26 September 2017

Our engaging and thought provoking conference brought together people from across the sectors which are part of MaaS systems including operators, data providers, local and national authorities, consultants and academics. Explore the resources available including workshop summaries and presentations.

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