Italy’s Ancient Roads Host Mobility as a Service Test

Burney Simpson

The ancient streets of Ragusa, Sicily recently played host to a test of Mobility-As-A-Service (MAAS) by Mvmant, a provider of a smartphone app with a hybrid cab/bus service.

A posting on Mvmant’s Facebook page claimed it had 2,000 registrants during the three-week test.

Mvmant’s on-demand transportation service is designed for congested urban areas where Millennials eschew privately-owned cars. Mvmant picked Ragusa because its streets are often jammed with tourist vehicles.

Subscribers use their smartphone to book and pay for a Mvmant ride. The trip isn’t door-to-door but the traveler can use the app to find the best route for his trip, according to the Catania, Italy-based firm.

Mvmant uses data analysis to determine the most-in demand routes and the optimum number of seats per route. Monitors in the vehicle display ads and offer free trips, discounts and promotions from local merchants.

This Mvmant You Tube video explains its concept.

The Ragusa test vehicles were supplied by Mercedes Vans, one of Mvmant’s supporters. The vehicles are not autonomous or electric powered. Models in the test included the Sprinter and Vito commercial vans, the panel van-mini MPV Citan and the MPV class V.

Mvmant is a project of Edisonweb, and it has a number of influential partners in addition to Mercedes, according to its website.

Supporters include Samsung, the Italian bank Unicredit, Rome-based environmental group Legambiente, and Frontier Cities, an innovation and technology funding arm of the European Union.

Mvmant says its service reduces congestion because trip takers will use its shared vehicles instead of driving their own car. Reducing congestion can cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Frontier Cities reports that Edisonweb has been approached by the Berlin Agency for Electromobility eMO to support a second Mvmant pilot in Berlin, and from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai. Mvmant plans to test its program in the Italian cities of Messina and Modena.