Brussels has long been synonymous with traffic jams, aging trams, and a car-centric culture that often leaves pedestrians and cyclists feeling like second-class citizens. Yet beneath the surface of snarled boulevards and diesel fumes, a quiet revolution is taking place. Since early 2023, the Brussels Capital Region has been piloting a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform — a single digital app that integrates public transport, shared bicycles, e-scooters, car-sharing, and even taxi services into one seamless booking and payment experience. The pilot, officially called MaaS Brussels but commonly referred to as the “Floya” app after its primary interface, represents the most ambitious attempt yet to nudge residents away from private car ownership toward a mix of shared and sustainable modes. This article dissects the pilot’s design, the partners involved, the pricing models, the early results, and the lessons for other cities grappling with mobility transitions.
What Is Mobility-as-a-Service and Why Brussels?
Mobility-as-a-Service is a concept that originated in Finland in the mid-2010s, with Helsinki’s Whim app often cited as the first full-scale implementation. The core idea is to offer users a single digital platform where they can plan, book, and pay for trips using multiple transport modes — from buses and trains to bike-share and ride-hailing — typically via a monthly subscription or pay-as-you-go model. The goal is to make the combined use of public and shared transport as convenient and cost-effective as owning a car.
Brussels is a natural testbed for MaaS. The region has a dense public transport network operated by STIB/MIVB (the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company), which runs 4 metro lines, 18 tram lines, and over 50 bus routes. Yet car ownership remains high: according to 2022 data from Statbel, 48% of Brussels households own at least one car, and the region suffers from some of the worst congestion in Europe, with drivers losing an average of 117 hours per year in traffic, according to INRIX. Meanwhile, shared mobility has exploded: Villo! (the public bike-share) has 360 stations and 5,000 bikes, Lime and Dott operate thousands of e-scooters, and car-sharing services like Cambio and Poppy have hundreds of vehicles. But each service has its own app, account, and payment system, creating friction that discourages multimodal trips.
The Brussels pilot, launched in March 2023, aims to eliminate that friction. It is a public-private partnership led by the Brussels Mobility administration, with technical development by MaaS Global (the Finnish company behind Whim) and local integration by STIB/MIVB. The pilot is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Brussels Region, with a budget of €1.2 million over two years.
How the Pilot Works: The Floya App and Its Features
The pilot’s primary consumer interface is the Floya app, available for iOS and Android. Floya acts as a mobility aggregator: users enter their destination, and the app suggests routes combining public transport, walking, bike-share, e-scooter, car-sharing, and taxi. The user can book and pay for the entire journey within the app, with a single receipt.
Key features include:
- Real-time multimodal journey planning — The app pulls live data from STIB/MIVB (delays, disruptions), shared mobility operators, and traffic information to suggest the fastest or cheapest combination.
- Integrated payment — Users link a credit card or PayPal account. Fares are calculated based on actual usage, with no need to carry multiple cards or top up separate accounts.
- Subscription plans — In addition to pay-as-you-go, Floya offers three monthly subscription tiers: “Brussels Basic” (€49/month) includes unlimited STIB/MIVB travel plus 30 minutes of Villo! per day; “Brussels Plus” (€79/month) adds 20 e-scooter trips per month (up to 15 minutes each) and 5 car-sharing trips of up to 30 minutes; and “Brussels Premium” (€119/month) includes unlimited public transport, unlimited Villo!, 50 e-scooter trips, and 10 car-sharing trips. These prices are designed to undercut the total cost of car ownership, which averages €300–400 per month in Brussels (including fuel, insurance, parking, and depreciation).
- Gamification and incentives — Users earn “Floya points” for choosing sustainable modes (e.g., walking, cycling, public transport), which can be redeemed for discounts on future trips or partner services like Delhaize grocery delivery.
The pilot currently includes the following partner services (as of October 2023):
- Public transport: STIB/MIVB (metro, tram, bus) and SNCB/NMBS (national rail) for trips within the Brussels-Capital Region.
- Bike-share: Villo! (classic and electric bikes).
- E-scooters: Lime and Dott.
- Car-sharing: Cambio (station-based) and Poppy (free-floating).
- Taxis: Taxis Verts and Autolux.
Notably absent are ride-hailing services like Uber, which have been excluded due to regulatory conflicts with Brussels taxi laws. The pilot’s coordinators hope to add them in a future phase if legal issues are resolved.
Early Results and User Adoption
As of September 2023, the pilot had attracted approximately 8,500 registered users, of whom about 3,200 were active (using the app at least once per month). This is modest compared to the region’s 1.2 million inhabitants, but the pilot is still in its early stages. A survey conducted by Brussels Mobility in July 2023 found that 72% of users reported using public transport more frequently since joining, and 45% said they had reduced their car usage. The average multimodal trip involved 2.3 modes — typically a combination of walking, public transport, and a shared bike or scooter for the “last mile.”
The most popular subscription plan was Brussels Basic, chosen by 58% of subscribers. Pay-as-you-go users accounted for 30% of trips, with the remaining 12% on higher-tier plans. The average monthly spend per active user was €38, slightly below the Basic plan price, suggesting that many users find the subscription attractive only if they already use public transport heavily.
Challenges have emerged. The app’s user interface, while functional, has been criticized for occasional bugs and slow load times, especially during peak hours. Integration with real-time data from shared mobility operators has been imperfect: users have reported arriving at a Villo! station to find no available bikes, or finding a Cambio car that was not actually parked at the designated spot. The pilot team has been working on improving data accuracy and adding a “reservation” feature for certain services.
Pricing and Business Model: Can MaaS Be Profitable?
The pilot’s pricing strategy is deliberately aggressive to lure users away from cars. The €49 Basic plan, for example, costs less than a standard STIB/MIVB monthly pass (€49.50) but includes Villo! as a bonus. The Premium plan at €119 is roughly equivalent to the cost of a car-sharing membership plus occasional public transport, but offers more flexibility. However, the pilot is heavily subsidized: the region covers the cost of the app development and integration, and STIB/MIVB receives a fixed annual payment from the MaaS operator regardless of usage. The shared mobility partners (Lime, Dott, Cambio, Poppy) accept lower per-trip margins in exchange for access to a new user base.
According to internal documents obtained by Le Soir, the pilot’s operating cost per user per month is approximately €18, meaning the region is effectively subsidizing each user’s mobility by about €10–15 per month (depending on the plan). The hope is that as user numbers scale — to 50,000 or more — the platform can achieve economies of scale and reduce the subsidy. But MaaS Global’s experience in Helsinki and other cities suggests that profitability is elusive: Whim itself has yet to turn a profit after seven years, relying on venture capital and government grants. The Brussels pilot is therefore as much a research project as a commercial venture, designed to gather data on user behavior and modal shift.
Lessons for Other Cities: What Brussels’ Pilot Reveals
The Brussels MaaS pilot offers several lessons for urban mobility planners worldwide. First, integration is hard. The technical challenge of connecting disparate APIs, ensuring real-time accuracy, and handling payments across multiple operators is significant. Brussels benefited from the fact that STIB/MIVB already had an open data policy and a unified smart card (MOBIB), which eased integration. Cities with fragmented transport systems will face higher hurdles.
Second, subscription pricing must be carefully calibrated. The Brussels pilot’s tiered plans are designed to appeal to different user segments, but early data suggests that heavy public transport users are the most likely to subscribe. Occasional users prefer pay-as-you-go. The sweet spot may be a hybrid model where a small monthly fee unlocks discounted per-trip rates, as seen in some MaaS pilots in Vienna and Gothenburg.
Third, regulatory alignment is crucial. The exclusion of Uber from the Brussels pilot highlights how existing taxi laws can limit the scope of MaaS. Cities considering MaaS should review their regulations to ensure that new mobility services can be integrated without legal friction.
Finally, behavioral change takes time. The pilot’s modest user numbers show that even a well-designed app cannot instantly overturn car culture. Complementary policies — such as congestion charging, reduced parking, and improved cycling infrastructure — are necessary to create a supportive ecosystem. Brussels is pursuing these in parallel: the region’s “Good Move” plan, adopted in 2022, aims to reduce car traffic by 24% by 2030 through measures like the 15-minute city concept and tactical urbanism interventions.
Future Plans and Scaling Up
The Brussels pilot is scheduled to run until March 2025, after which the region will decide whether to scale it into a permanent service. The evaluation criteria include user satisfaction, modal shift (measured through travel diaries and STIB/MIVB ridership data), cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact (CO2 reduction). Preliminary results are promising: a life-cycle analysis commissioned by Brussels Mobility estimated that each MaaS user reduces their transport-related carbon footprint by an average of 15%, primarily by switching from car to public transport and shared modes.
If scaled, the platform could be expanded to include the entire Brussels-Capital Region and potentially link with neighboring Flemish and Walloon MaaS initiatives. The region is also exploring the inclusion of cargo bikes, electric mopeds (like Felyx), and on-demand shuttles in underserved areas. A key challenge will be maintaining data privacy and preventing the platform from becoming a monopoly that squeezes smaller operators.
For urbanists attending the Urban Summit Brussels, the MaaS pilot will be a central topic of discussion. The summit’s top sessions include a dedicated workshop on MaaS outcomes, featuring Philippe Jonniaux, director of Brussels Mobility, and representatives from MaaS Global and STIB/MIVB. The keynote speakers include Dr. Maria Tsavachidis, CEO of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Urban Mobility, who has called MaaS “a critical tool for achieving climate neutrality in cities.”
Conclusion
Brussels’ MaaS pilot is not a silver bullet for the city’s mobility woes, but it is a bold and necessary experiment. By bundling public transport with shared modes in a single app, it simplifies multimodal travel and makes car-free living more feasible. The early results show that users do shift away from cars, but adoption remains low, and the economic model is unproven. The pilot’s success will depend on continued political commitment, technical refinement, and the integration of complementary policies. For other cities watching, Brussels offers a real-world laboratory where the promises and pitfalls of MaaS are being tested in real time. The lessons learned here will inform mobility strategies for years to come.