London, Dec 15 (IANS) Whim, a mobile app by Finland-based Mobility as Service (MaaS) operator MaaS Global, is set to be launched in the West Midlands metropolitan area in Britain in early 2017 which will become the first region to pilot the service to its residents.
Whim, which will be released in Birmingham and West Midlands metropolitan area in spring 2017, will integrate public transport, rental cars, taxis, trains, bikes and more to take people door to door as easily as possible.
The launch follows the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the West Midlands Combined Authority, transport service providers National Express and SilverRail, Birmingham City Council and MaaS Global recently.
MaaS, short for Mobility as a Service, brings all means of travel together by combining options from different transport providers into a single mobile service that creates and manages the trip, which users can pay for with a single account.
"With the open and forward looking approach, Transport for West Midlands and local transport service providers from National Express and SilverRail to Enterprise are the true enablers of bringing MaaS to Britain," Kaj Pyyhtiä, Co-Founder and CXO of MaaS Global, said in a statement.
The world's first capital region MaaS service is already operational in Helsinki, Finland, where MaaS Global has launched the Whim app initially for a limited group of test users.
Pre-registrations to use Whim are now open on the Whim website in Britain.