WRI co-designed Beijing’s “Mobility-as-a-Service” digital platform, helping shift millions of commuters toward low-carbon travel and inspire similar apps in other cities.

The Challenge

As one of the largest cities in the world, Beijing faces complex traffic challenges. Roads are congested. Emissions are rising. Access to reliable and affordable transportation is hugely uneven. Meanwhile, growing private car use has reduced public transportation ridership while increasing air pollution.

One potential fix is making public transit more accessible and easier to use.

WRI’s Role

WRI partnered with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, the Beijing Transport Institute, universities and private mobility operators to rethink how residents move through the city. The team convened government agencies, technology platforms and service providers to codesign a single, user-friendly app that integrates schedule, ticket information and payments for buses, the metro and shared bikes. It’s known as the “Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS)” system.

WRI started by conducting large-scale surveys and user testing to identify barriers and understand the needs of commuters, including vulnerable groups such as older adults and people with disabilities. WRI co-developed the MaaS system’s governance architecture and data-sharing rules, as well as the MaaS Impact Assessment Framework, which combines carbon reduction, user behavior and equity metrics to track benefits over time. WRI also helped embed carbon incentives into the platform, allowing users to earn rewards like public transport discounts, shopping coupons or charity donations when they select green transport modes.

The Outcome

Beijing launched China’s first citywide MaaS digital platform in 2019. It enables seamless trip planning across different types of transportation, allowing users to pay for everything in one place and offering rewards for choosing green travel options like buses, the metro and shared bikes.

Between 2019 and 2025, the program helped reduce emissions by more than 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking up to 500,000 passenger cars off the road each year.

In 2025, the platform reached 30 million active users, who took 5.5 million daily “green” trips using shared bikes, buses or the metro, a 45% increase since 2019. The platform also enrolled 6 million registered users into the carbon-reduction incentive program, which rewards people who use green transit with things like coupons and discounted bus and metro rides.

Beijing’s system is now informing similar efforts in five additional Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Mengzi. Partnerships with the MaaS Alliance in Europe and Volvo Research and Educational Foundation’s Living Labs are expanding the model’s potential impact in other parts of the world.