What is Mobility as a Service (MaaS)?
Mobility as a Service, or MaaS, refers to an approach that brings together different modes of transport within a single platform, allowing users to plan, combine, book, and pay for their journeys seamlessly.
For example, a MaaS application may offer a trip combining: a train, then a bus, then a shared bicycle to complete the journey, and allow users to pay for everything in a single transaction.
For companies, MaaS represents a strategic lever: it allows them to offer their employees credible alternatives to private cars, reduce car park congestion, control costs related to commuting, and strengthen their CSR strategy by reducing CO₂ emissions. Ultimately, by facilitating access to a variety of transport solutions, Mobility as a Service helps modernise and streamline mobility within organisations.
Can Mobility as a Service (MaaS) improve company car park management?
Yes, it can genuinely improve company car park management, even though this is not its primary purpose. By offering employees a range of alternatives to private cars, it naturally helps reduce the demand for parking spaces.
At the same time, Sharvy (which is not a MaaS solution but rather a complementary tool) optimises the booking and daily use of parking spaces. Companies can therefore combine both approaches: MaaS to encourage and facilitate diverse modes of transport, and Sharvy to intelligently manage the remaining spaces, for example by enabling occasional booking, prioritising carpoolers, or automatically releasing unused spaces held by permanent badge holders.
Together, these solutions create a coherent ecosystem in which mobility is smoother and parking more efficient, while supporting a global approach to sustainable mobility.
What obstacles or limitations hinder the deployment of MaaS in companies?
Deploying a MaaS solution within companies, although attractive on paper, faces several obstacles.
The first is organisational: setting up a MaaS system requires coordination between multiple stakeholders (transport operators, local authorities, private providers, and the company itself), which can extend timelines and complicate the project.
Next comes the barrier related to employee habits: private cars remain the preferred mode of transport, whether for comfort or due to a perceived lack of alternatives, which makes behaviour change slow at times. Some regions also suffer from a lack of diverse transport options, preventing the creation of a truly relevant MaaS offer.
Additional technical challenges arise, such as data interoperability (timetables, real-time availability, payment systems), which requires standards and strong partnerships.
Finally, the cost of integrating a MaaS solution can also be a budgetary barrier, particularly for SMEs. Not to mention data protection issues (journeys, bookings, mobility behaviour), which may raise concerns both for companies and employees.
How can solutions like Sharvy help companies overcome the limitations of MaaS?
While MaaS may face organisational and technical barriers, more accessible and immediately operational solutions like Sharvy allow companies to make concrete progress towards more sustainable mobility.
By optimising the management of parking spaces through an intelligent booking system, Sharvy gives employees better visibility: they can check real-time availability of spaces within the company car park.
This transparency naturally modifies behaviours. When an employee sees that no spaces are available, they are more inclined to choose another mode of transport, such as carpooling with a colleague, cycling (when possible), public transport, or a combined journey using a park-and-ride facility.
It also avoids the long minutes spent driving around looking for a space — a source of stress, wasted time, and unnecessary emissions.
Thus, even if Sharvy is not a MaaS solution, it acts as an accelerator of transition, making the use of private cars less systematic and parking more fluid.