What is MaaS?

Mobility as a Service, usually shortened to MaaS, is the mobility sector’s name for combining transport options from different providers into a single service that a traveller can plan, book and pay for in one place. The term emerged in Finland in the mid-2010s and spread quickly through European transport policy, research and procurement.

In its usual telling, MaaS moves people away from owning a vehicle and towards buying mobility as they need it — sometimes on a subscription, sometimes trip by trip. That framing has shaped a decade of pilots, standards work and public tenders across Europe.

FINOMAD’s statutes name MaaS explicitly, alongside “Public Mobility”, in statutory objective (g). This article sets out what the industry means by the term; the next one explains why our public communication prefers the other.