INSIDE STORY: Frictionless MaaS – how was it done?

Earlier this year the Italian city of Genoa hit the headlines thanks to the deployment of a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) network that was not only ticketless, but didn’t even require users to take their phones out of their pockets. But how was it done? Intertraffic World’s Paige Smith talks exclusively to the experts involved, and uncovers the challenges they faced and solutions that were deployed.

In July 2022, in a move to revolutionize how people travel in towns and cities, Hitachi Rail digitally connected public and private hire transport across the entire city of Genoa, Italy. This world-first trail was achieved using technology from Hitachi’s new smart mobility suite called Lumada Intelligent Mobility Management.

The Bluetooth sensors allow for the creation of a ‘digital twin’ of the region’s transport and passengers’ end-to-end multimodal journeys. This real-time electronic map of how the city is moving will allow operators to optimise services, timetables and create a system that better accommodates the changing needs of passengers.

In the launch programme Hitachi connected 663 buses, 2,500 bus stops, the metro line, two funiculars, one historic hillside railway, 10 public lifts and two suburban bus routes that span 50km. Users also have the ability to hire an electric car using the app, pay for parking or find an e-moped. The trail wasn’t without its hurdles though.

Deployment and development

“The project was definitely challenging,” says Alessandro de Grazia, group head of smart ticketing at Hitachi Rail.

“We needed to take into account the geography of the city. We had to install 7,000 sensors, that’s one at each and every transport stop [batteries in the sensors should last around five years]. We had to really do some engineering for the installation plan. But sometimes a plan versus the reality can be another story.”

One of the difficulties the team faced was fitting sensors in certain places, including public lifts. “We couldn’t just put the white sensor in there because of the historical importance of the public lift,” says de Grazia. The solution was to wrap the sensor in a dark colour wrap and hide it somewhere, such as behind a seat. “In terms of the physical installation, it was complicated,” he says.

“A further challenge was related to the contractual schemes and the finalization of the contracts,” says Barbara Ferrari, head of sales for Central Eastern & Southern Europe at Hitachi Rail. “The management of the data was a critical part for us. All the data had to be anonymized and the GDPR had to be taken into account. This was something that we needed to be very careful about. We considered all the difficulties we could face in order to protect the data. The most important aspect for us was compliance with everything,” she says.

Perfect partners

The 360Pass is being delivered in partnership with the city’s public transport operator, AMT, and the Municipality of Genoa, using the local brand name GoGoGe.

Regarding the future development of the project, the team are optimistic. “The data that we have collected, and the results of these trials are very positive,” says Ferrari. “The application works very well, the client is very satisfied, and so are the passengers because they can see there are a lot of advantages. We are sure that the app is stable and there will be efficient development."

Ferrari believes that the platform is flexible enough that it would be easy to adapt for use in any cities, including any transportation service that are available in other cities. “The strategy and the target of Hitachi is to use the success of this trial in order to promote these solutions and to have the possibilities to sell to any customer,” she says. “We want to implement this in different cities and continue to add new services.”

“It’s fully configurable,” explains de Grazia.

“We have a core, which fits for megalopolis, but it also fits for smaller cities, then, of course, the number of services you put on top of the core is dependent on the city you're working in. You must configure it, but the logic behind it stays the same. That's the magic of it.”

That's the great thing about it,” says de Grazia. “It's not built around the app itself, it's the technology, and the connection.”

The trial represents a first working example of a completely frictionless Mobility as a Service solution and the company believes that the technology could work anywhere in the world.

“The advantage that we have as a company is the fact that we are in the transportation business and have been for many decades. Our added value is that we can connect with all the services and all the data within the transportation world. We know what the needs of the clients are,” said Ferrari.

Author: Paige Smith
This feature is a preview. To read the full version, don’t miss the forthcoming 2023 edition of Intertraffic World magazine.

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