The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is aiming to implement a mobility-as-a-service application for transport in the region.
It has begun to look for an off-the-shelf solution that could be used by other public bodies and transport operators for at least five years with the possibility of extensions.
The authority has defined mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) as the ability to use a single interface, usually through a mobile application, to pan, book and pay for journeys on different types of transport. These include walking and cycling.
The market notice says that along with the application it wants to set up a journey planner, which would be exposed as an API for use in other systems and services, and a bespoke data integration layer that it would own and control. WMCA is currently assessing whether to procure the different elements through a single or multiple tenders.
It also says it will own the data obtained and processed in the application.
The move marks a growing interest in MaaS services. Last October Solent Transport began to look for support in its plan to build a platform, and the Department for Transport has looked at the concept as part of a consultation on new uses of technology in transport.
Image from iStock, Rrice 1981
