For the best experience browsing on ITS Australia, we recommend using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge. The ITS website also runs on mobile web browsers.
You can download supported browsers using one of these links:
To check what browser version you are using, visit What Is My Browser.
ITS Australia members, through the MaaS National Reference Committee, were tasked with investigating global open standards, protocols, specifications and algorithms relating to MaaS and consider how these could be applied to the Australian context.
The approach involved a global literature review and consulting with national and international stakeholders informing the development of this discussion paper which provides an overview of the various considerations and a taxonomy of 25 different standards, protocols and algorithms.
These protocols are detailed and assessed in this paper with questions posed against a range of issues, the responses to which will be used to inform the final discussion paper.
ITS Australia would like to thank the MaaS National Reference Committee and representatives from Queensland Transport Main Roads, Department of Transport WA, and Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications as participants in the working group.
David Apelt at Transmax undertook this protocol analysis and we particularly wish to acknowledge the time and expertise invested in this project.
The 2019 Austroads report investigating Opportunities in MaaS through a literature review and observations of international MaaS schemes, concluded that MaaS models are working best in jurisdictions with:
Many of these are currently available in a large part of Australia and are increasingly being expanded to regional centres and outer suburbs and while transport has been massively impacted by Covid 19 and we are seeing striking changes in travel patterns and mode choice we have seen that data has been key in continued delivery of safe public transport and effectively informing customers.
This is only going to become more critical and working to better understand how we can safely, effectively, and efficiently share necessary data to design and deliver improved transport options through MaaS and MoD is key.
One of four components of a MaaS ecosystem identified in the ITS Australia MaaS report (see figure right) “Interoperability and integrated systems with secure data sharing principles in a framework regulated by government oversight” is foundational, the key to enabling MaaS in Australia.
This discussion paper has been developed to assess options, opportunities, and challenges and consider options going forward.
An analysis of existing protocols can raise more questions than answered so there is real benefit in clearly assessing approaches taken by other jurisdictions and testing their utility and potential against a number of necessary metrics, namely technical and governance.
The protocols assessed are not all specifically developed for MaaS yet they do often lay the foundation for MaaS or enable functions that are also key requirements for MaaS.
While there are jurisdictional differences, and aside from some European countries, the majority of MaaS products are currently delivered within specific regions, there is always benefit in considering harmonising core elements at a national level in Australia.
Some questions to consider:
1. Taking a principles approach what data would be required to be shared to enable MaaS?
2. Considering the type and nature of data to be shared is there an existing protocol that would be suitable in Australia?
3. While recognising regional differences is there an approach that would enable a core national data sharing protocol?
Membership of ITS Australia offers a range of benefits