“Cars are already being built to fit into the Apple, Android and Google universe. In order to realise a digital eco-system for public transport there is still some catching up to do“, says Michael Frankenberg. Hacon, a subsidiary of Siemens Mobility, is working on the issue.

In Michael Frankenberg’s view it is important to create a mobility system that matches supply and demand. That also includes the idea of door-to-door services rather than just train or bus stops. For passengers, it should be as easy and convenient as possible to combine various forms of transport. Apps are pivotal in that context for planning and booking different providers and transport. Mobility-as-a-service has great potential not just for private trips. Hacon is currently rolling out an app for Siemens that caters for business travellers. This travel organiser offers intermodal door-to-door service with an app, and aims to make it easier to plan travel more efficiently and sustainably across the entire spectrum of travel by rail, public transport, air, rented cars, cabs and cars.

According to Michael Frankenberg, exploiting data in intelligent ways is integral to offering customised mobility services: “We offer passengers information on how full buses and trains are and suggest alternatives. That helps us to balance the entire system better“, he explains.

InnoTrans is addressing mobility-as-a-service developments, and in the Public Transport segment will for the first time host a themed display area under the heading ‘Mobility+’. “This is where companies exhibiting supplementary mobility services can meet domestic and international transport companies, transport networks and administrations, and display their intermodal concepts and systems to individual sectors“, says Kerstin Schulz, the director of InnoTrans.

All episodes of the InnoTrans Podcast are available on the InnoTrans Website. Additional information offer the profiles on LinkedIn and on Twitter as well as the InnoTrans blog.

About InnoTrans

InnoTrans is the world’s leading trade fair for transport technology and takes place every two years in Berlin. At the last event 3,062 exhibitors from 61 countries presented the global rail industry’s innovations to 153,421 trade visitors who came from 149 countries. The five segments at InnoTrans are Railway Technology, Railway Infrastructure, Public Transport, Interiors and Tunnel Construction. InnoTrans is organised by Messe Berlin. The thirteenth edition of InnoTrans will take place on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds from 20 to 23 September 2022. More details are available online at www.innotrans.com.