Riding in the name of science

Information about the ETH research project.

In many cities around the world private motorized vehicles are one of the most important and most used means of transportation. However, in comparison to public transport, car-sharing and other shared modes it is not sustainable. In many places there is a lack of viable and easy to use alternatives. A possible solution could be the introduction of novel shared travel modes and their integration with public transport Verkehr (Mobility as a Service, MaaS). MaaS has the potential to change our behavior and enables seamless intermodal travel. It allows for a shift away from private motorized vehicles towards shared modes of transportation.

yumuv is an innovative pilot project, conducted by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) and the local public transport providers in Basel, Bern and Zürich. The ETH Zürich (Institute for Transport Planning and Systems, Chair for Geoinformation Engineering and the Mobility Information Engineering Lab) provide academic support for the design and the analysis of this study.

To collect data, we tracked and monitored the travel behavior of study participants over the course of 3 months. Thus far, data collection has been completed and the ETH Zürich can now start to interpret the results and draw conclusions. 

The data generated by this study can give us important insights on our so-far limited scientific understanding of MaaS. For example, how it changes our travel behavior or how it could be used to encourage a more sustainable way to travel.