Tampere is a pioneer in digitalization services. The city has a major role in supporting the three-year Mobility as a Service (MaaS) ecosystem project, which is being implemented in cooperation with Siemens and Tuomi Logistiikka. This is the first time publicly supported rides are a part of the MaaS project.
The objective of the Maas paradigm is to develop transportation services as seamless and convenient as possible. This means, for example, that passengers can make the necessary journey from door to door with a single fee and the one ticket, even if they use several different modes of transport to make the journey.
The task of the Ministry of Transport and Communications is to support the creation of an environment in Finland where development and marketing of safe, efficient and profitable transport services is possible and attractive. The new transport service act supports this project, says Laura Eiro, director of the markets unit and services department at the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
The pilot project, which was launched in Tampere, is a great example of how to boldly and creatively combine different units within the group. This creates new innovations and enables development of the entire MaaS paradigm and the emergence of a marketplace, says City of Tampere head of development Kari Kankaala.
What is distinctive of Tampere is publicly supported passenger transportation, which Tuomi Logistiikka, a subsidiary of the City of Tampere, organizes for people with reduced mobility, for example. The project explores the possibilities for making use of available capacity and opening it to other uses cost-effectively.
Siemens offers a platform that will connect to transport providers such as Tuomi Logistiikka, and will be offered by a provider of transport services to a MaaS operator that will sell travel chains to consumers. Tuomi Logistiikka is pioneering using the platform to offer rides, and so they can at the same time enhance their operations, says Siemens Osakeyhtiö business development manager Veikka Pirhonen.
When the cost of the taxi share falls significantly below the normal market price, the MaaS operator gets added affordable capacity for the services it offers as part of another travel chain.
The service offers customers the opportunity to make use of pre-planned routes that are well suited to their travel plans, adds Tuomi Logistiikka senior vice president Erkki Harju.
Public authorities use over 1 billion euros annually for publicly supported transport. With this solution, it is possible to achieve significant savings. With the Siemens platform, it is possible to transparently transfer the capacity of the city’s rides and at the same time enable MaaS operators to expand their operations. The pilot project that is now being implemented is world’s first project to combine publicly supported rides with the MaaS concept.
This solution is a good example of how digitalization produces value for society, says Juha Lehtonen, the head of the Mobility division at Siemens Osakeyhtiö. There is also global demand for this solution, which opens up new business opportunities for Finnish operators.
