There are many elements involved in building the open Internet of Mobility. The MaaS ‘ecosystem’ requires contributions from road and rail at the core of public transport to the new disruptors in bike-share and on-demand taxis; to the platform providers which serve up travel options to individual travellers. And in between are various forms of data collection, provision and aggregation, along with the many components of back office payment systems.
In this context what we mean by ‘open’ is many layered. Open can be via the provision and use of open data or open source code. Or, via the growth of local eco-systems of providers who use these open tools to create new businesses and business models. Or through the sharing of data.
‘Closed’, on the other hand, creates proprietary systems which, often as not, will not work with other functionally similar systems within the same sector. Yet convergence is often desirable for efficiency.
Continue reading “Whitepaper 1: Open or Closed? The Case for Openness in Mobility as a Service”
