Opinion: Don't Let the Private Sector Monopolize Transportation Apps

Ratna Amin begins a recent opinion piece for SPU with a question: "When you hop between bus, bike sharing, taxi and train, whose app are you going to use? Who is going to manage that experience?"

The question is probably easy for most people to answer—there are apps for directions while driving, apps for letting someone else do the driving, apps for renting bikes and scooters, apps for public transit, and even apps for choosing the prettiest route to walk—there are even apps that combine most or all of these modes.

As the mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) market has evolved, companies like Uber have gone multi-modal, and Ratma expresses concern about the consequences of allowing the private sector to dominate the mobility app market. In fact, Ratma details six potential consequences of private sector dominance of MaaS:

• A restricted marketplace limits options
• Public transportation loses relevance
• Private management reduces access and equity
• People have less incentive to make sustainable choices
• Restricted data limits our ability to manage our transportation systems
• Transportation services diverge further

Ratma also describes the many forms public sector stewardship of the mobility experience could take. A first step toward an a more influential role for the public sector is choosing the agency or agencies "responsible for creating and implementing the region’s MaaS vision."