MaaS Alliance thrives on its members’ will to collaborate on new ideas to achieve a flourishing MaaS ecosystem in Europe and worldwide. In doing so, three Working Groups each focusing on a dedicated topic (Governance & Business Models, Users & Rules, and Technology & Standards), are currently running thanks to dedication of their Working Group leaders.
In this interview, we have a chat with Laura Lassila, Chief Specialist at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, leader of our Users & Rules Working Group.
Laura, what does your Working Group? What are the main objectives and goals at general level?
In the Users & Rules Working Group, we are currently focusing on ongoing policy and regulatory developments, sustainability and keeping the user at the centre of MaaS. The Working Group is also responsible for preparing the MaaS Alliance’s positions to regulatory consultation that is a powerful way to support what new legislation promotes user-centric and open ecosystem for MaaS. That means that, especially in the EU context, we follow anything on the policy agenda that has an impact on the further development of MaaS. One of our main tasks is to support knowledge sharing between members by inviting external speakers to monthly WG calls to have updates from different legislative environments, and by organising events and webinars.
What will be the focus activities of your WG for 2021?
This year the WG’s work will focus on three main topics: environmental performance of MaaS, user-centricity MaaS and urban planning. In addition, the WG continues to lead the preparation of the MaaS Alliance’s positions on regulatory consultations. The WG will take actively part in ongoing discussions around market development in all countries. For example, Europe is very active in creating new rules for mobility. The European Commission is currently revising the ITS Directive and has proposed multiple alternative regulative ways to support sharing mobility data and interoperability and developing market opportunities for MaaS. The outcomes of the WG’s activities will include publications, events and feedback to regulatory consultations but also articles related to ongoing legislative changes in MaaS Monitor blog.
The WG is a place where members can share and gain knowledge among members and the whole MaaS industry. There are opportunities to share best practices and be involved in creating common opinions. Around those activities, there will be events, for example, we are hosting regular webinars on user-centric MaaS.
The Working Group activities are exclusive to MaaS Alliance members, but we are always more than happy to welcome all those interested members to join our task forces. Every month we have around 30 participants at our meetings, from all over the world!
What interests you most of the activities carried out in the WG?
For me the best thing in the MaaS Alliance and its WGs is that it brings together brilliant minds and inspiring people from different business sectors and legislative environments. We all have the same goal to promote better mobility services and greener habits, but the tools to achieve our aims are different.
I this this will be an exciting year with all the regulatory revisions related to MaaS and data sharing the European Commission is working on. This year makes it possible for us to have an impact and contribute to a whole new legislative scheme for future digitalised services.
Laura Lassila, Chief Specialist, Finnish Transport and Communications Agency – Traficom is specialised in digitalisation and competition on mobility markets. She has gained years of experience on national and EU state aid law and she is now focusing on legal aspects of the mobility market development. Laura works on opening access to data and interfaces enabling multimodal ticketing and other new data based sustainable mobility services and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). As part of her work in Traficom’s Transport Market Impact Network, she is involved in the coordination of non-binding contractual recommendations, Interface Practices, available here.
