Universal MaaS: Toward the realization of traveling assistance services for wheelchair users "Arrangement for seamless assistance"

MaaS stands for "Mobility as a Service," which means that transportation by various means (trains, buses, taxies, etc.) as well as airplanes is considered as a one-service, and everything from route search to payment is connected seamlessly beyond the boundaries of transportation operators.
For example, let's say you are traveling from Tokyo to Kyoto. You have searched for a route to your destination and decided to take a flight to Osaka and a taxi from Osaka to Kyoto. You make reservations and payments for each transportation, such as trains, airplanes, buses, and taxies, that will take you from your home to your destination.
In addition, those who need assistance due to disabilities or other reasons also inform the respective transportation operators of their requests for assistance. Some foreign visitors to Japan have difficulty understanding Japanese and are stressed by the procedures for each transportation system.
Universal MaaS is an initiative aimed at smooth and comfortable travel, focusing on people with disabilities, the elderly, foreign visitors to Japan, and others who are afraid to travel for whatever reason.

Launched in 2018 as an idea of an ANA Group employee, the Universal MaaS initiatives are making steady progress with the help of numerous partners.
One of the initiatives is a traveling assistance service for wheelchair users "Arrangement for seamless assistance".
With the customers' consent, the necessary information for assistance registered at the time of reservation of ANA airline tickets will be linked to the system with the joint companies. This will reduce the burden on customers to make assistance requests to each transportation operators, while enabling operators to smoothly collect the assistance information needed by customers.
Also, the "Arrangement for seamless assistance" screen seen by the customer is linked in real time to the transportation operators' flight/traffic information, allowing the customers to know the occurrence of delays and early arrivals.

In the verification experiment, monitored customers will enter the necessary information for assistance when making airline ticket reservations through the ANA website, and travel routes using JR East, Tokyo Monorail, and MK Taxi will be set up to match the reserved flights. By sharing the necessary information for assistance with each transportation operators in advance, the participants experienced the ability to make arrangements all at once without having to contact each company. On the day of the trip, participants boarded public transportation along a set route. The transportation operators provide assistance to the monitored customers, knowing in advance the route, time, and assistance information for boarding.

"As a person with a disability, I have always felt the inconvenience of traveling by public transportation, and I was excited to see the attempts to solve this problem together with the operators."
"I felt that the public transportation service system would become a network to support travel, with assistance and support information being communicated in advance and linked to the necessary contacts."
In addition to the evaluation of the service, the following comments were also given.
"It is important that everyone has a choice, and I hope that a system will be built that allows people to enjoy services that meet their individual needs."

We interviewed Mr. Osawa and Ms. Kuroiwa (Mobility As A Service Corporate Planning, ANA), who are in charge of Universal MaaS, about the path to the verification experiment and future prospects.

It was inspired by the original experience of the Universal MaaS initiator and the knowledge gained by each member learned through the activities of the Universal MaaS project. As we began to travel with friends and acquaintances with disabilities, we became aware of the hassle and difficulty of arranging assistance in advance. As a result of our continuous efforts to promote the concept of Universal MaaS, both publicly and privately, like-minded people have gathered together, and with the involvement of the companies and organizations to which each of us belongs, we have been able to build the partnerships and implement the systems that we have today.

Various wheelchair users and each transportation operator had different positions and situations, with their own recognition of the issues and priorities. The task of bringing them together was very difficult. We were able to arrive at this verification experiment through repeated dialogues among the involved parties, sharing the ideal image and concept, and striving for mutual understanding and exploration.

Universal MaaS is intended to be implemented in society step by step from FY2022 onward. The timing and scope of the implementation of this service have not yet been determined, and will be discussed based on the results of this verification experiment.