Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is an innovative mobility service that aims to redesign the future of urban mobility by integrating multi-modal transportation and app-based technologies to enable seamless urban mobility. While MaaS pilot demonstrations and schemes implementation have taken place in different cities at a global level, and relevant studies focus on the MaaS barriers and users’ characteristics, the planning process for implementing MaaS is rarely presented. This paper summarizes the services to be integrated into the MaaS Athens’ demo site in Greece and describes the planning process that was followed to showcase the demo. The demo site is located within the urban area of Athens, including a public transport operator, a bike-sharing service, a taxi operator, and a municipality public transport operator. The demonstration runs developments in a real corridor that has the potential to prepare the MaaS eco-system deployment and market uptake. Three travel cases are planned: (1) Multimodal work trip; (2) MaaS for tourists; and (3) Interurban/urban interfaces, for work and shopping/leisure trips. The user journeys are defined in detail and the main information for each user journey is presented. The study concludes with challenges that were faced during the demo planning and recommendations for achieving the MaaS goals.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is an innovative urban mobility concept that aims to provide a competitive alternative to the use of private cars, by integrating various transportation services. Until today, limited MaaS schemes have been implemented and, in most cases, without succeeding to justify the hype. For achieving the goals of MaaS it is essential to capture holistically the expectations and barriers, as perceived by both the end-users and the various involved stakeholders. This paper aims to bridge this gap, by conducting two surveys in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece; the first survey targeted local authorities, organizations and mobility providers, while the second survey focused on (potential) end-users. The responses of stakeholders were analyzed through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, in order to identify the importance of barriers and expectations. On the other hand, the responses of end-users were analyzed statistically and two ordered logit models were developed for identifying the characteristics of those that are more likely to adopt MaaS. The results of the analyses indicate that there is a loop between MaaS and private car usage; on the one hand, the dominance of private cars hinders the adoption of MaaS, but on the other hand, MaaS can be a “tool” for encountering car domination. The results also enhance the idea that public transport is an essential component of MaaS.

Towards the achievement of climate neutrality in the cities, the GHG emissions in transport are expected to be reduced by 90% until 2050, while the acceleration of the introduction of innovative mobility services enabled by digital platforms in the cities facilitate the achievement of the goal. The development of an integrated e-service for vehicle sharing would assist cities towards climate neutrality and digital transition. The integrated e-service aims to assist the management and the use of shared e-vehicles and consisted of both web service application and business intelligence platform for data analysis. Through the collection and analysis of data derived from both vehicles and rental system, the data analytics platform offers decision support tools based on machine learning algorithms.

Following the goal of achieving climate neutrality and accelerating the transition of European cities through innovation and digitization, Thessaloniki was awarded with the relevant EU Mission label. As part of its commitment to the NetZeroCities Pilot Programme, the ReGenWesT project builds on one of the Climate City Contract’s emblematic interventions for the creation of climate neutral districts. This paper focuses on pilot actions designed to enhance sustainable urban mobility in the city’s West Centre. The recent metro launch presents a unique opportunity to improve the safety and accessibility of mobility nodes, reduce pollution, and promote sustainable travel, core objectives of the European Green Deal. The methodology outlines how to create secure walking and cycling routes for diverse user groups through GIS mapping, participatory co-design, and on-site pilots. These actions aim to demonstrate the validity of the proposed design and establish a community based, data-driven plan for climate-neutral urban renewal.