Smartphone app predicts transport will soon "be like Netflix," with nobody owning a car

Transport will "be like Netflix and Spotify," with nobody owning a car, but instead subscribing for a "mobility service," according to MaaS, the Finnish firm behind a smartphone app bringing together public transport and car-hire and taxi-hailing. 

Sampo Hietanen, MaaS chief executive, made the claim as the firm continues its drive for investment for a commercial launch next year. He gave more details to journalists of the service, which will allow users to specify how many train journeys and miles of Uber travel they want a month, and will include set-price options, with one covering unliminted taxi-use across the EU, another providing tracked 'kid-safe' trips and one long-trip away each month.

IB TImes UK said MaaS earned £1.7m of seed funding earlier this year and is expected more ahead of a launch planned in Finland next year and internationally between 2018 and 2020. Hietanen said that private cars are not used 96% of the time and added that he will sell his own car next month and rely on the service. 

The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority, working with MaaS, has previously dismissed the failure of an on-demand mini-bus service that aimed to take private cars off the roads as due to having high fixed-costs.