Development and implementation of equity: implication for Mobility-as-a-Service in Japan

Japan's motivations for implementing Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) are diverse, and its vision and objectives are very clear and target oriented. The government has focused on deploying MaaS to address the mobility issues of its declining and rapidly aging population. However, whether these projects can achieve equity goals and assure accessibility to all is under question. Therefore, this paper first aims to define equity objectives and their indicators to achieve such mobility solutions with MaaS. Next, it seeks to explore equity impact in two different MaaS cases developed and implemented by the government and the private sector. Accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity have been chosen as equity objectives in this study, along with six different equity indicators to measure the equity evidence of two MaaS projects. Questionnaires were prepared separately for each case, and the heads of these projects were interviewed about equity concerns. The findings indicate that equity is not highly or may not even be prioritized in both MaaS cases. Nevertheless, MaaS projects in Japan have distinct characteristics to achieve specific goals. Therefore, this study suggests conceptual and practical ways or implications for incorporating transportation equity goals into these newly implemented MaaS services in Japan.