What are the factors and needs promoting mobility-as-a-service? Findings from the Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey (SHEDS)

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a service that supports customers' transportation needs by providing information and ticketing for a multitude of transport modes in one interface; thus, buy potentially fostering multimodality and public transport, it represents an important lever to reduce negative transportation impacts such as emissions and congestion. By means of an online survey conducted in Switzerland, we try to understand potential user needs as well as factors that would motivate the use of MaaS. Comparing the openness to use MaaS for specific trip purposes like commuting and leisure activities, we find the lowest level of openness for commuting and the highest for weekend leisure trips. Intention to reduce car usage was positively related to openness to MaaS in commuting. On the other hand, factors that positively influence openness to using MaaS for leisure activities include a higher education degree, experience with carsharing and the use of transport-related climate policy announcements directly affecting consumers. These findings suggest focusing specifically on either commuting or leisure activities when designing policy measures

Sustainable transformation of the mobility system : the interplay between mobility services and electric vehicles

The transport sector is the backbone to our economy and society. However, transport accounts for 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is the largest emitting sector in many developed countries. While other sectors such as housing and industry have been able to reduce their emissions in recent decades, emissions from the transport sector are increasing substantially in some countries. One of the reasons we have not succeeded in reducing transport-related GHG emissions is the increasing share of larger and more powerful vehicles in new car registrations. It is estimated that the rise of sport-utility-vehicles (SUVs) and large cars just about cancel the emission reductions we would have acquired from the increasing adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Other externalities are often neglected, such as increases in pedestrian fatalities and particulate matter emissions that are harmful to health. To counteract these negative externalities, scholars suggest spurring the adoption of BEVs. BEVs can drastically decrease GHG emissions from a lifecycle perspective (cradle to grave) compared to conventional cars fuelled by gasoline and diesel, if the electricity used for charging the BEV stem from renewable energy sources, e.g., solar and wind. Yet, simply replacing conventional cars with large BEVs could lead to potential problems such as increased GHGs and other toxic emissions for the production of large batteries, raw material depletion and supply-chain shortages, increased particulate matter emissions, increased accident severity and increased land use. A small BEV with a usable range of 250km is capable to satisfy more than 96% of trips per year on average, without the need for recharging during the day, given that one could charge the BEV at home. Hence, the number of times per year, where one would need to opt for an alternative is rare. The occasional long-range and special purpose trips (e.g., including large luggage) could be conducted by emerging mobility services like carsharing, car-rental, public transport or the convenient integration of these mobility services in one app, called Mobility as a Service (MaaS). If people would switch from owning a large car to a smaller BEV, capable to satisfy almost all trips and combine it with the occasional use of mobility service, substantial sustainability benefits could be possible. In this thesis, I investigate these alternative mobility lifestyles to owning a large car by conducting several choice experiments within the Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey in 2018 and 2020. In the first contribution, I investigate the challenges and needs of Swiss households in using MaaS for commuting, weekday leisure and weekend trips. The results underline the importance of experience with mobility services like carsharing and public transport, which increases the openness to use MaaS. The needs in using MaaS differ regarding the trip purpose, where fast transfer times and low price are important for commuting, and luggage carrying possibilities and flexibility are important for leisure trips. Policies directly addressing consumers, e.g., increasing fuel levies, vehicle import restrictions and a ban of non-electric vehicles in the city centre, were found to significantly increase the openness to use MaaS. This could be specifically relevant for the hard-to reach groups, i.e., frequent car users. In the second contribution, I directly investigate the effect from experience with carsharing on the likelihood to opt for a micro to mid-sized BEV as the next car replacement for Swiss households. By controlling for a large set of potential influential variables like socio-demographics, mobility characteristics, attitudes, and values, I find a significant correlation between carsharing experience and likelihood to choose a micro to mid-sized BEV for people living in the countryside and agglomerations. This finding suggests that owning a small BEV in combination with mobility services could be marketed especially to people who live outside the city and rely on a car. I am the first to find an additional potential sustainable effect resulting from experience with carsharing, that is, deciding to own a smaller car due to the certainty of having access to long-distance and specialized vehicles when needed. In the third contribution, I investigate the probability of Swiss households to choose a mobility lifestyle comprising the ownership of a small BEV in combination with mobility services for long-range trips. By including different push and pull measures as treatments, I find that providing charging at home and at work can significantly increase the probability to switch from previously owning a conventional car to owning a small BEV and using carsharing, car-rental and public transport for occasional long-range trips, especially for households that currently own large cars. The provision of carsharing and car-rental close to the place of residents increases the openness to switch as well. By combining secured charging at home and at work with a 50% fuel tax, up to 51% of conventional car-owning households would switch to own a small BEV and occasional use mobility services for long-range trips. Two conclusions for society, mobility planners, and policy makers emerge from my findings. First, experience with carsharing can encourage willingness to use MaaS, as well as the purchase of a small BEV. Second, a large proportion of households with conventional vehicles could be convinced to switch to a small BEV and combine it with mobility services through a combination of push and pull measures. The work can serve as a guide on how to curb or stop the trend towards ever larger cars and boost the acceptance and attractiveness of BEVs and mobility services alike