Heuristic-Based Journey Planner for Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

• Main Authors: Panagiotis Georgakis, Adel Almohammad, Efthimios Bothos, Babis Magoutas, Kostantina Arnaoutaki, Gregoris Mentzas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: mobility as a service (MaaS); dynamic journey planning; personalised routes recommendation; scenario-based modelling
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10140

The continuing growth of urbanisation poses a real threat to the operation of transportation services in large metropolitan areas around the world. As a response, several initiatives that promote public transport and active travelling have emerged in the last few years. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is one such initiative with the main goal being the provision of a holistic urban mobility solution through a single interface, the MaaS operator. The successful implementation of MaaS requires the support of a technology platform for travellers to fully benefit from the offered transport services. A central component of such a platform is a journey planner with the ability to provide trip options that efficiently integrate the different modes included in a MaaS scheme. This paper presents a heuristic that implements a scenario-based journey planner for users of MaaS. The proposed heuristic provides routes composed of different modes including private cars, public transport, bike-sharing, car-sharing and ride-hailing. The methodological approach for the generation of journeys is explained and its implementation using a microservices architecture is presented. The implemented system was trialled in two European cities and the analysis of user satisfaction results reveal good overall performance.