Turin’s “Netflix of Mobility” service gets high marks after pilot phase

The first such initiative in Italy that aims to discourage people from taking their cars when going downtown

The trial phase of Turin’s MaaS (Mobility as a service) project, co-financed by the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition and cheekily described as “Netflix of mobility”, is set to finish at the end of September. But even before its end, it has already received high praise and marks of satisfaction from the selected participants.

The project began in October 2021 and thus has a duration of exactly one year. The first, and preliminary, results were presented on Wednesday, 7 September, to the 5T Viability Commission.

Mobility as a choice

It is the first project in Italy, born with the aim of limiting the use of private cars in urban areas, especially when it comes to moving to the centre of the city. However, the hundred participants were chosen from city residents who do not own cars. They have an average age of 39 and thanks to a single pass, they enjoy access to various mobility services in the area: local public transport, scooters, taxi, electric scooters, car sharing and car rental services.

Eighty-one percent of users expressed great satisfaction with the initiative and rated the experience with a 4.25 out of 5. A preference for public transport emerged among the subjects – with 85%, followed by car sharing and scooters. The least used, so far, is car rental. Almost all of the testers reported a five-minute reduction in travel times. Ten percent say they save up to fifteen minutes. The main reasons for choosing the means were time, independence and sustainability.

The project shows a possible road towards the future of mobility, as it certainly attracts the interest of governments: 3.3 million euros in state funding is arriving plus another 1.3 million allocated by the Piedmont Region for MaaS projects.

According to the 5T technicians in the Commission, it is necessary to stabilize and finalize the experimentation of good mobility in a way that will be in favour of all the Turinese and, why not, of the many tourists who visit the city. The goal is to finalize the project by mid-2023.