The market for sustainable transport is saturated by private cars. Providing new transport services currently involves a transition period during which they exist at the same time as the cars they are intended to replace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Costs are increased during this transition, creating a barrier to change. 350 million cars in Europe cost over 1.4 trillion euros per year, making it impossible for the market to respond in a balanced way to any new services. P2P MaaS addresses this fundamental problem, allowing passenger transport to become sustainable in a shared and circular economy 

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The proposed solution integrates new transport services before they are provided. OEMs, Transport Providers and End Users, establish supply and demand online before changes, to car ownership and transport provision, are made on the ground.

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Circular economy
Development of a shared, circular economy is driven by the rapidly growing, global need to increase efficiency of asset use and reduce carbon emissions. Private cars currently deliver over 80% of passenger journeys, but spend 95% of the time parked. P2P MaaS is a Web3 solution for transport, it allows manufacturers, operators and end users to form 'Decentralised Autonomous Organisations' (DAO) called Transport Groups, which enable them to share control and responsibility for developing new sustainable transport services.

Web3 for passenger transport

• Transport Groups crowdfund supply and demand for new transport services online, before they are provided on the ground

• Money trapped by private cars is released by shifting financial responsibility for new services, from providers to users

• Car commuters buy tokens, linked to the development of new services that will enable them to own fewer cars, and sold as carbon credits once a reduction in car use has been validated. This is an alternative to low emission zones or workplace parking levies

Customers of P2P MaaS are OEMs and transport providers, who want to ensure new services will be viable, and employers who want to avoid workplace parking levies being imposed. End users are car commuters who either convert to alternatives, or continue to drive and carbon offset their cars.

P2P MaaS is divided into 3 Parts, each making different use of smart contracts on a decentralised blockchain. Part 1 holds the money from road user charging in escrow, Part 2 crowdfunds supply and demand, and Part 3 manages variable pay-per-use rates for new services.

Part 1. Carbon offsetting cars
Linking new services with the cars they substitute makes it possible to validate carbon reductions and create new revenue streams for developing transport. Instead of solutions such as Low Emission Zones or *Workplace Parking Levies, car commuters buy tokens which they link to the development of a specific Transport Group, one that will enable them to own fewer cars. Funds are held by a smart contract, on behalf of the Transport Group, until supply and demand for its new services has been established (Part 2). Data from car use before this transition and from the use of alternatives, after the transition, is used to validate the reduction in carbon emissions. Tokens can then be sold as carbon credits to the voluntary carbon market. Car commuters participate by either changing to sustainable alternatives or continuing to drive and buying tokens to offset their cars. Employers can collaborate to meet ESG commitments using data and communication links to identify, prompt and incentivise potentially compatible users in a targeted way. The overall effect is for major polluters to cover the costs of developing sustainable transport.​​

* The Workplace Parking Levy in Nottingham costs employers £550 per place per year, in Sydney it is $2,950

Part 2. Crowdfunding supply and demand
Conventional Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platforms only integrate existing transport supply. Using P2P MaaS, providers and users establish both supply and demand to form small DAOs called ‘Transport Groups’. This enables manufacturers, operators and end users to co-own and govern the development of new services. Transport Groups are crowdfunded online, before changes to car ownership and transport provision are made on the ground. This avoids increasing costs when new services would normally have to coexist with the private cars of target users. It allows the viability of one new service to be conditional on the viability of another new service. Using a decentralised solution overcomes problems of complexity, lack of knowledge and illiquidity of cars, which have previously made it impossible to affect a modal shift.

Part 3. Shifting financial responsibility
In the crowdfunding process of Part 2, members of a Transport Group commit to variable pay-per-use rates that cover the cost of new services. They collectively ‘trade-in’ their combined cars for combined alternatives that meet the same needs. As with trading-in a single car, this ensures there is no time during which they are both paid for at the same time. It shifts financial responsibility for developing new services from providers to users. A smart contract manages variable pay-per-use rates, using data sent by an oracle network from real world events, such as transport being used or provided. Controlling pay-per-use rates also allows a Transport Group to raise its initial funding from the future savings made by owning fewer cars.

P2P MaaS pilot
Piloting the simplest possible use case will involve car commuters to a business park converting to a combination of folding e-bikes, rail and carshare. Employers will make use of data and communication links. New revenue streams will include carbon offsetting private cars and using the future savings from owning fewer cars.

 

Please don't hesitate to get in touch, the economic, social and environmental need to develop sustainable transport is urgent. The problems addressed here undermine all other efforts to provide alternatives to private cars.

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