MaaS digital mobility platform: successfully industrialising your transport ecosystem

MaaS digital mobility platform: architecture, challenges and orchestration

The MaaS (Mobility as a Service) digital mobility platform is more than just a mobile app. By 2026, it will represent the structural framework of a region's transport ecosystem, unifying trams, metros, buses, bicycles, trains and shared services within a single interface. 

In practice, this platform takes the form of mobile applications, web services and, in some cases, conversational or embedded devices. Its value lies in its ability to structure a unified digital ecosystem capable of connecting operating systems, third-party services, public regulations and actual usage.

As the European MaaS market reaches maturity, with growth projected to exceed 35% by 2033*, this platform approach is becoming crucial.

MaaS as a strategic foundation: much more than a digital project

Implementing a MaaS platform is a long-term commitment to the digital organisation of a region.

This choice is not just about a product, but also about:

• the ability of the mobility information system to remain interoperable (CIS, ticketing, repositories, partner APIs);

• real-time management and resilience in degraded situations;

• public control of data, business rules and trade-offs;

• consistency between web, mobile and other interfaces;

• the ability to integrate new partners or expand to regional areas (SERM) without technical disruption.

At this level, MaaS becomes a lever for organisation and management, just like infrastructure or operating tools.

MaaS architecture: a single foundation for multiple interfaces (web, mobile, app)

A digital MaaS mobility platform is characterised by its ability to separate the functional and technical foundation from the interfaces that make it visible. Mobile applications, websites, terminals and internal tools are simply different expressions of the same core platform.

This separation avoids a common pitfall: the proliferation of digital tools that each evolve at their own pace, resulting in functional inconsistencies, technical redundancies and disruptions to the user experience. Conversely, a platform approach promotes the sharing of business rules, consistency across journeys and the gradual evolution of each channel.

User experience: simplifying the complexity of intermodality

Mobility systems are complex by nature. They combine networks, modes, operators, fare rules and operating tools that have been built up over time. The MaaS platform is not intended to mask this complexity, but to make it usable for the user.

Defragmenting the digital experience involves connecting historically disjointed steps: gathering information, understanding options, deciding, acting, and then adjusting one's journey according to the context. This continuity relies as much on product design choices as on the way data and services are orchestrated in the background.

On the scale of a large network or regional territory, this defragmentation becomes a key factor in adoption. It determines users' ability to trust the platform as a single point of entry, even when the situation deviates from the norm (disruptions, missed connections, unavailable services).

Technical orchestration: synchronising CCS, ticketing and partner services

Connecting operations to digital interfaces

At the heart of a MaaS digital mobility platform lies a central challenge: connecting network operations to the digital world in real time.

Operations support and passenger information systems (DSS), ticketing, repositories, supervision tools, control systems and third-party services produce heterogeneous data flows, designed at different speeds and with different logics.

Technical orchestration consists of synchronising these real-time flows to produce consistent, contextualised and actionable information that is accessible from all digital interfaces, both web and mobile. This orchestration capability is critical to ensuring continuity of travel, particularly in degraded situations: disruptions, operational incidents, peak loads or unavailability of certain services.

In the environments in which we operate, such as Bordeaux and Lille, this represents industrial volumes, with more than 212 million API requests per month in some cases, with continuous monitoring mechanisms for flows, dependencies and performance.

These platforms are operated with formalised service commitments and measured availability levels, achieving, for example, 99.98% incident-free sessions. At this scale, managing latency, partial degradation and partner dependencies becomes as strategic as functional development itself.

The platform then functions as a critical system, subject to the same requirements for resilience, monitoring and operational continuity as core public transport tools.

Backend For Frontend (BFF): organising APIs to stabilise the experience and guarantee reversibility

Once the systems are interconnected, a second question arises: how can we prevent each change to the information system (ticketing, CMR, third-party partners, etc.) from weakening the web and mobile interfaces?

This is precisely the role of Backend For Frontend (BFF).

BFF is an intermediate layer of architecture placed between internal systems and user interfaces.

In concrete terms, it:

• centralises calls to the various business APIs (CIS, ticketing, partners);

• aggregates and transforms technical data into coherent objects on the product side;

• exposes stable interfaces to web and mobile applications, adapted to their specific needs.

In other words, digital interfaces do not communicate directly with each partner system. They pass through a dedicated orchestration layer that protects the user experience from the complexity and variations of the IS.

This approach has three major benefits in a MaaS context:

• Multi-channel stability: web and mobile share consistent rules, even if upstream systems evolve.

• Technological reversibility: a change of supplier or tool does not require a complete overhaul of the interfaces.

• Risk control: dependence on a specific partner is limited by the existence of a controlled abstraction layer.

The BFF pattern is now widely used in microservices and multi-channel architectures with high API dependency. In a public mobility environment, it becomes a lever for digital sovereignty and securing long-term investments.

Integration of third-party services: bicycles, carpooling and micro-mobility

The integration of third-party services, such as self-service bicycles, carpooling, car parks and on-demand services, is now an integral part of MaaS projects. However, its value depends less on the number of services integrated than on the quality of their orchestration.

A high-performance MaaS platform ensures consistency of information, routes and rules, regardless of the service used. It explicitly manages unavailability, offers credible alternatives and maintains a consistent level of clarity for the user.

This orchestration capability is central to Smart City initiatives and is fully in line with the objectives of the French Mobility Orientation Law (LOM). It makes it possible to combine innovation, public interest and quality of service without diluting public responsibility in a pile of private offers.

Data governance: from digital rules to public arbitration

A digital MaaS mobility platform implements rules: route prioritisation, partner integration, pricing, connection management, disruption handling.

These rules translate policy guidelines into concrete terms: modal shift, decarbonisation, accessibility, territorial equity, in the interface and in the routes offered.

Usage data can then be used to observe how appropriate these rules really are.

Route choices, journey abandonments and replanning in the event of disruption reveal the actual choices made by users.

The platform thus becomes a junction between public intention and actual behaviour.

At the level of a metropolis or regional territory, this capability is crucial. In the context of Regional Metropolitan Express Services (SERM), for example, the success of interconnection can be observed. The platform makes it possible to measure whether feeder services are working, whether connections are being adopted, or whether certain links remain theoretical.

MaaS data governance is based on a continuous cycle: formulate a rule, observe its effect, adjust the system.

It is in this loop that the platform becomes a structuring tool for public policy, closely aligned with actual usage.

Choosing your MaaS trajectory

With a market now rich in MaaS solutions, the question of customisation arises in terms of trajectory rather than opposing models. Some platforms respond effectively to standardised scopes, while other contexts require fine-tuning to existing systems and regional challenges.

A tailor-made MaaS platform makes it possible to build a digital ecosystem that is aligned with the reality of the territory: heterogeneous information systems, multiple partners, institutional constraints and long-term ambitions.

It promotes gradual evolution, without being dependent on the functional or contractual limitations of a closed product.

In this approach, customisation does not mean reinventing every component, but rather assembling proven components in an open, scalable and governed architecture.

We will return to the criteria for making this choice in more detail in a dedicated article, as it has such a significant impact on a region's digital trajectory.

The MaaS platform as a digital public asset

A MaaS digital mobility platform is not a software expense, it is a strategic public asset. To guarantee data sovereignty and user acceptance, technical industrialisation must take precedence over functional stacking.

With over 20 years of experience and a customer loyalty rate of 97%, BeTomorrow supports mobility players in designing robust, scalable and sustainable platforms. We master the entire chain: from backend architecture to digital eco-design, including user-centred interface design.

Discover our MaaS and AI achievements for mobility:

• New Level 3 MaaS mobile application for Keolis Bordeaux Métropole Mobilité

• Ally, the conversational AI brick at the service of mobility

You may also be interested in this article: MaaS platforms, AI, modularity: rethinking public mobility through service

* Global Market Insights study, June 2025 - European Mobility as a Service (MaaS) market size: by service, by business model, by solution, by mode of transport, by application, by need, by organisation size, analysis, share, growth forecasts, 2025-2034

Would you like to audit your MaaS architecture or launch a unified mobility platform?

Schedule a meeting with our experts! Discussing things in advance often helps to clarify the issues, secure structural choices and lay the foundations for a solid trajectory.

MAAS, AI AND URBAN MOBILITY

• Rethinking the value proposition for a user-experience oriented mobility
• Towards service-oriented platforms : from MaaS to conversational AI
• Intelligent agents, connectivity and AI orchestration
• Adopting a transformation method grounded in the field
• Inclusion, accessibility an personalization

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