The Missing Model: Why MaaS Hasn’t Scaled And What Comes Next

The discussion, featuring Valerie Lefler (Catch a Ride Network), Sandra Witzel (SkedGo Pty Ltd), Dagmara Wrzesinska (Cubic Transportation Systems), and Tamara Djukic, PhD (ERTICO – ITS Europe), quickly moved beyond platforms and integration. MaaS is not a technology challenge but it is an ecosystem challenge.

More Than Integration

Early MaaS efforts focused heavily on technical integration: APIs, ticketing, payments, and platforms. While necessary, integration alone does not create adoption or sustainability.

Scaling MaaS requires alignment across:

• Governance structures that give authorities confidence
• Procurement models that balance risk and reward
• Commercial pathways that offer viable returns
• Shared metrics between public and private actors

Without these foundations, MaaS remains an overlay rather than a systemic shift.

The Ecosystem Reality

A clear theme from the discussion was that MaaS can only thrive within a strong mobility ecosystem.

That ecosystem depends on:

• Reliable and diverse transport options
• Open-loop and interoperable systems
• Institutional alignment across stakeholders
• Trust between operators, authorities and users

Where fragmentation persists, MaaS struggles to move beyond pilots.

Just as importantly, the conversation highlighted that MaaS cannot focus solely on existing public transport users. Meaningful change requires engaging car users and underserved groups, combining digital solutions with human support, and building trust through service quality and accessibility.

Rethinking Value and Investment

The panel also challenged how mobility funding is framed.

Public transport and integrated mobility are often positioned as cost centres, yet broader transport spending tells a different story. Significant investment already exists within the system but not always in ways that support integration, behavioural change or long-term sustainability.

Reframing MaaS as infrastructure rather than experiment shifts the conversation from “Should we fund this?” to “How do we invest more strategically?”

Data plays a critical role here. Without shared and accessible data, it becomes difficult to demonstrate ROI, measure behavioural change, or align incentives across stakeholders. Fragmented data ecosystems continue to limit evidence-based decision-making and, ultimately, scale.

So What Next?

A clear takeaway was that progressing MaaS and integrated mobility more broadly starts with policy and legislative influence. Pilots and partnerships can demonstrate value, but lasting change happens when frameworks support integration, incentivise collaboration and embed MaaS within transport strategies.

This is not always easy. The right decisions may not come with immediate KPIs or clear commercial wins. But the absence of perfect metrics does not mean the work should not be done.

MaaS sits at the intersection of sustainability, accessibility and societal value. Scaling it will require leadership, long-term thinking and deliberate system design.

Because MaaS will not scale by accident. It will scale by intention.