**4. Results and Discussion**

The experimentation aimed to test and validate the specified pre-test model reported in Section 3 and to test the validity in an extra-urban context. This section aims to investigate the willingness of users to use MaaS systems instead of private vehicles with a pre-test model in urban or extra-urban areas, as well as their willingness to pay to use an alternative to private vehicles with a pilot study.

The territorial context analyzed in the experiment was in the extra-urban area of Gioia Tauro in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy. The 33 municipalities of the Gioia Tauro area were divided into five zones by merging neighboring municipalities. Considering the city of Gioia Tauro as the center of the study area, it is approximately 55 km from the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. Approximately 150,000 people live in the Gioia Tauro area, while the extension of the territory is approximately 1000 km<sup>2</sup> with a density of approximately 150 inhabitants/km2.

In accordance with [31], an indicative threshold was identified in order to be able to define an area characterized by low population density that corresponded to 50 inhabitants/km2: 9 municipalities out of 33 belonging to the study area were below this threshold. In the study area, the transit mobility services consisted of road services and rail services. The former consisted of buses, car sharing, on-call services, and bike sharing. The road bus services were managed by approximately 15 companies. The rail services were managed by one company. The transport systems in the area were low-frequency transit. In some timeslots, was not possible to reach a destination by transit transport. For this reason, it was decided to study the possible introduction a MaaS system in the area and to analyze user preferences.
