Mobility-as-a-Service Failures and the Open Mobility Opportunity

Global MaaS Failures

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) promised to streamline travel by bundling modes (transit, ride-hail, bike/scooter share, etc.) into one app. However, after years of pilots and hype, MaaS has largely failed to deliver on its promise globally. Early pioneers in Europe, like Finland’s MaaS Global (provider of the Whim app), expanded to Asia and North America but struggled to achieve scale or profits. MaaS Global raised over €149 million from major firms (Toyota, Mitsubishi, BP) and launched in cities from Helsinki and Birmingham to Vienna and Tokyo, yet by 2022 it was battling for survival, incurring €9.3 million in losses and shrinking its staff. In 2023, MaaS Global filed for bankruptcy, underscoring the economic failure of the one-app MaaS. Finnish media reported the company spent tens of millions on “failed expansion ventures” with little return.

This disappointment is not limited to Europe. North America has seen no breakout MaaS success — the United States “has not yet ‘passed’ level 2” on a five-level MaaS integration scale (where level 4 is full integration). Most American efforts remain limited to basic trip planning or mobile ticketing in isolated pilots, far from the seamless door-to-door vision. Many cities offer multiple travel options, but they exist in silos with minimal integration. The result is that MaaS in the U.S. and elsewhere remains stuck in early stages (levels 0–2 of integration). Asia, despite fast-growing cities with…