Kyyti

mobility as a service

Mobility as a Service… …as a service?

Mobility as a Service is an intriguing concept. By definition MaaS enables end users to plan, book, and pay for multiple types of mobility services. How the end user benefits from the concept is easily imagined, and the likely impacts of a possible high adoption rate are compelling. Efficient travel, raised public  transportation passenger numbers, more riders for shared and sustainable modes of travel.. Desirable outcomes, right? We all know the goal and hold it in high regard. The success of MaaS can even be seen as something that will have a profound impact on all our lives, whether we live in urban or rural areas, in developed or developing countries – there are vast possibilities in MaaS.

The end user’s satisfaction is key in having MaaS succeed. It’s imperative to have a service that’s easy and desirable to use and brings added value compared to what’s already available. No service can thrive without the end user’s explicit willingness to change an everyday habit, and that happens only when the new habit brings more perceived value in one way or the other.


As service design for an end user product is a somewhat clear art form it might now be time for MaaS enablers to start refining the design of the MaaS core service for their clients – the enabler being for instance a MaaS platform provider and the client being a service provider, for example a MaaS Operator. The basic principles of service design do not necessarily have to change whether we are designing for end users or a service provider. The important cornerstones when designing a service are very similar – understanding market needs,having a new perspective on the market’s future, more efficient use of available resources for higher added value and perhaps most importantly, making the inevitable changes in culture and rooted habits as painless as possible. All of these are highly important, no matter if we are designing for an end user or an organization. Just like with the end user in mind, adding value and/or replacing a habit with something better is absolutely essential when designing for a service provider.

As a business, mobility is of course based on the need to get around in a given environment. The market is highly fragmented, and as environments and needs vary it’s not far off to say there’s as many different perceptions of a well-organized mobility offering as there are entities organizing mobility. It’s also worth noting that different organizations vary in a multitude of ways which makes designing a uniform mobility service for all a huge challenge. Organizations vary in their offering and the service level they are expected to provide, the extensiveness of their APIs, et cetera. In general there’s an infinite number of ways to handle data needed for successful MaaS implementation etc – even the understanding of the concept of MaaS, the goal itself, can vary a lot between different different clients.

However, the important fundamentals of service design stay the same, and the MaaS enabler has a bigger likelihood to succeed if these fundamentals are put into practice.

Kyyti has put a lot of effort into unifying the MaaS adoption process and creating a clear and agile customer journey for an organization willing to transition towards MaaS. In Kyyti’s MaaS platform, the aforementioned fundamentals of service design are held in high regard, making the platform highly scalable and minimizing barriers for MaaS adoption on a global scale. MaaS is a fairly new concept, but as the already implemented services show, there is already successful, fully scalable MaaS implementation happening using a sleek service design with the MaaS platform provider (the enabler) connecting the supporters (communities, political sectors) and the actors themselves (MaaS operators and transport providers).

The common goal with all this is that through thoroughly thought out and a ready made MaaS solution, the MaaS adoption process can be painless despite the obvious challenges. With a meticulously designed service offering, MaaS can also bring added value to the client already within a short timeframe, and most importantly, the change towards MaaS can be seen as a desirable development rather than a nuisance.

In a nutshell,

Key to succeeding in MaaS is having MaaS made easy.

What is the value of a ready made MaaS solution?

MaaS (Mobility as a Service) is all about enabling mobility without owning a vehicle. Achieving actual results in MaaS requires highly complicated technologies to integrate numerous service providers, coordinate different services into a seamless user experience and to provide cost effective shared services for rejuvenating public transit in areas where traditional services are not viable.

Most important MaaS touchpoints for the end user are multimodal route planning, seamless ticketing involving multiple service providers, flexible travel modes, user centric travel information and the availability of suitable services where and when needed. Anyone who has been involved in technology development projects knows the frustration of coming up with something new. A lot of time is needed, a LOT of money is spent, with no actual guarantee that after all the time, money and resources used the system would actually work.

It’s important to note that using an already existing solution cuts the time, money and management resources needed into only a fraction compared to a situation where one has to start the development from scratch. The wheel does not need to be re-invented. Every service provider does not have to re-think MaaS.

Transport authorities, transport operators and companies willing to provide mobility services can have huge benefits from access to existing and thoroughly tested MaaS technologies. An obvious advantage for authorities and operators is having direct access to the end users in this new technology driven mobility system.

Kyyti has been building and perfecting MaaS technology for six years. What does it mean in practise to deploy a white labeled service? How quickly can this technology be implemented? Below is a brief example of a nationwide MaaS deployment using our technology.


Matkahuolto is a consortium of Finnish bus operators with a majority market share of Finnish intercity bus travel. Kyyti and Matkahuolto started their co-operation in late 2019 by agreeing to build a multiservice trip planning and ticket booking application using the MaaS platform provided by Kyyti Group.

After a swift deployment time of four months the Trips and Tickets – application was published, making Matkahuolto the first Finnish nationwide public transport travel chain provider.

The first deployment phase consisted of setting up and configuring the already existing building blocks of Kyyti MaaS Platform for Matkahuolto. This is the foundation of future deployments, including the fundamental parts to build future services on. This includes the setup and deployment of admin tools, online customer support tools, payment services, Open Trip Planner server, GTFS feed configuration and multiple API integrations.

For an unparalleled end user experience, the client was presented with a user app variant perfectly customized using their own brand and details.

After the implementation of the first version, several more services and integrations were added during the first year. Each new integration takes only 2-5 weeks to deploy, depending on the quality of the API to be integrated with.

For the client in question it is notable that the platform is now integrated with all major national ticketing system APIs, making the client the first mobility service provider to have the possibility to cover every corner of the country using a single app.

A second vastly important feature added was that the client is now able to provide the end user with real door to door travel chains using demand responsive taxi-like services as the first / last mile travel option. Again, this makes the client the first mobility provider in Finland, probably in the world even, to have such comprehensive mobility service offering.

So, back to the original question – what is the value of a ready made MaaS solution?

Let’s have our client answer that.

“Our goal is that in the future, the service will cover the entire country’s public transport so that it would be easy to travel without using your own car”, says Leila Lehtinen, the director of passenger and carrier services at Matkahuolto.

That just happened using the Kyyti MaaS platform.

This is how we make MaaS easy.



Read more about our deployments and clients HERE.

Check out the Trips and Tickets – application on iOS or Android.

Laying groundwork for future mobility

During recent years, the concept of turning mobility into an easily approachable service entity from its rather stagnant state has been a huge change in how such services could be perceived. As we all who are familiar with the subject have probably noticed, digitalizing a highly fragmented industry into a service that would resemble something as suave as the digitalized entertainment industry for example has proved itself to be quite the task. It is challenging to change the way mobility is publicly perceived, and the technological requirements for this change to happen are absolutely vast.

Bringing an age old industry which has a lamented infrastructure into the digital age is not something that can happen overnight. While having a concept and a vision of what the end product should be there are multiple twists and turns in bringing this high level theme into reality.

So, according to our perception at Kyyti, what are the elements of a firm base to build a successful MaaS implementation upon?

Developing technology and software is key in successful MaaS concept creation. Having been involved in this development since the very beginning of MaaS our experience has provided us with a pretty good understanding of how the MaaS groundwork could be laid.

We feel that the very first, and perhaps the most important thing is to have a solid platform with the capability to integrate into a diverse array of different systems. Integration and cooperation is after all basically the only thing that really matters in MaaS. Bringing down barriers between different service providers and stakeholders can be painful but it is something that must be done in order to breathe life into the concept.

Integrations go hand in hand with building actual services. By having the expertise and being persistent in the work to be done the integrations will eventually cover ticketing systems and mobility services nationwide, sparking totally new business opportunities. Having a clear vision on how this should be done will slowly bring the MaaS concept into life. The work can seem slow, but once it’s done it is something that will serve as a starting point for the developments that lay ahead. It’s one of the fundamental building blocks which MaaS will benefit from way into the future.

Of course, being a forerunner in any field means that it is a must to be able to also work for the greater good and to share the expertise and development skills one has with other players in the field. Great things can be achieved by sharing and participating in the work of the whole community. Another building block, perhaps should be called a cornerstone of MaaS even.

By having a clear understanding of both the already existing services and operational structures, it is possible not only to develop great technology, but also to find out ways to make technology benefit whole communities. MaaS implementations have the capability of even changing public mobility at the level of its very foundation. When utilised wisely, public mobility services can achieve a huge increase in their service level and have the bar of customer experience raised to a level that has been impossible to implement until recently. As public services are subject to public funding it is important to note that there are ways to make this happen with little to no extra cost. One of the most important blocks to build on for sure – implementing a new system must stay cost effective for it to make sense. The modern technology and the agile research methods Kyyti has developed are a solution to this fundamental problem.

So, those are a few of the things Kyyti has been working on. There’s lots more to come, in the meantime please familiarise yourself with the detailed Kyyti Platform Description for a comprehensive view on our current capabilities.