THE SOURCE FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION NEWS AND ANALYSIS MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2019 | VOLUME 77, NO. 15 The Delicate Balance Of Microtransit Service vs. Efficiency, or Transformational Opportunity vs. Just the Latest Fad? BY KATHERINE LEWIS WITH MANY PUBLIC TRANSIT neighborhoods without inconvenienc- or are you going to give a little piece AGENCIES seeing declining ridership in ing residents in the way full-size buses to everybody and have lower service?” recent years, and technology advances would. Meanwhile, the cost of these asked Jameson Auten, senior vice facilitating scheduling of small-capacity smaller, more nimble vehicles makes the president of operations and innovation vehicles, many systems are looking to service more affordable to provide and for the Kansas City Area (MO) Transpor- microtransit to improve customer ser- the convenience of on-demand sched- tation Authority (KCATA). “In the places vice and expand their service area. This uling makes it more appealing to riders where we need coverage, how do on- feeds into changing customer expecta- than existing paratransit. demand services fill those gaps?” tions—thanks to disruptive technology But in exploring microtransit, public To maximize your agency’s opportunity across a range of industries—for transit professionals should be aware for success, be sure to plan carefully, everything at our fingertips, from food of the many factors they will need to communicate with your customers, through DoorDash to movies on Netflix balance. As you expand the service launch the service aggressively enough and rides via Uber and Lyft. area, you risk increasing wait times. The to be noticed, expect to adapt and never Microtransit holds the potential of more closely you try to meet customers’ take your eye from the prize, driving bringing new riders to fixed routes, expectations of a personalized experi- efficiency as microtransit gets underway, reaching suburban areas seeing the ence, the more your costs will rise. Basi- according to interviews with public tran- quickest population growth and increas- cally, an agency is seeking to locate a sit officials across the country. ing equity by providing access to groups sweet spot between a taxi service and with the most need: older riders, low- traditional public transit. The key is to A Thoughtful Planning income residents and people with dis- find that happy medium based on the Process abilities. Using minibuses or large vans unique characteristics of the system, First, assess where your riders are and in a fixed area would allow public transit customer base and local needs. where they want to go. agencies to penetrate more deeply into “Are you going to be fast and frequent “The first question should always be, ‘What problem are we as an agency trying to solve?’” said Chad Ballentine, vice president for demand response and innovative mobility for the Capital Met- ropolitan Transportation Authority (Capi- tal Metro) in Austin, TX. “Often agencies find themselves trying to come up with innovative and new programs because of external pressures from their com- munity, a governing board, politicians or factors other than what their customers need. Always listen to your customers and work on finding solutions to their transportation concerns.” MICROTRANSIT The RFP for Gwinnett County’s full microtransit launch will include a web portal to order rides. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE MICROTRANSIT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE In Austin, transportation network companies (TNCs), bikes and scooters compete in the downtown core, but Capital Metro excels at providing more equitable options, reaching people in lower- and middle-income areas, providing wheelchair accessibility and accepting cash. A 2017-2018 micro- transit pilot conveyed riders within a lower-density, seven-square-mile zone and also brought them to transit hubs so as not to work against fixed-route service. Now the system is engaging the community and elected officials for a fully fledged microtransit rollout. “It is important to talk with the cus- tomers we want to provide service to before we design it. We are open and honest about our goals for the service SacRT offers free rides to any additional riders who join a group of five traveling from the same origin and we ask them to help spread the to the same destination. word,” Ballentine said. Public transit agencies should study traffic and trip patterns and gather data to help decide optimal vehicle size, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority whether minibuses that carry 15-20 Date service launched: Feb. 1, 2019, one-year pilot started passengers or vans with only seven to Number of microtransit vehicles operating: 4 10 riders. Setting performance objec- Number of riders using the service: 100-105 a day tives ahead of time makes the service Overall ridership since launch: 9,156 passengers less susceptible to pressure to change Cost to the rider per trip: $1.50 features unnecessarily during the rollout. They should use surveys, simulations Sacramento Regional Transit District and real customer data to develop the parameters of a first try at microtransit. Date service launched: February 2018 “Figuring out your service area size Number of microtransit vehicles operating: 15 is important. If it’s too big, it’s not cost- Number of riders using the service: Average 400-500 a day effective; if it’s too small, you won’t have Estimated increase in agency’s overall ridership since launch of enough ridership,” said Darrell Johnson, microtransit service: more than 150,000 riders total chief executive officer of the Orange Cost to the rider per trip: $2.50 or $1.25 for seniors, students and persons County Transportation Authority (OCTA), with disabilities Orange, CA. “Be clear about your objec- tives. If it’s just the latest fad or trend, Orange County Transportation Authority it’s probably not a good reason. What Date service launched: Oct. 15, 2018 are your outcomes? In our case, it was Number of microtransit vehicles operating: 6 about replacing existing transit service Average daily riders using the service: 125 on weekdays that was underutilized.” Overall ridership since launch: 25,668 as of Aug. 3 Sacramento County, CA, investigated Cost to the rider per trip: $4.50 on app, $5 cash (includes bus transfer) microtransit because of the area’s size and large population—1.5 million in the Gwinnett County, GA county and 2.4 million in the six-county Date service launched: Sept. 17, 2018-April 30, 2019 (pilot) region—of which only 900,000 were Number of microtransit vehicles operating: 6 served by fixed-route buses. “Sacra- Number of riders using the service on average: 262 mento County is huge; the fixed-route Overall ridership since launch: 33,376 total trips, 44,598 total passengers service can only cover certain portions Cost to the rider per trip: Free of the community,” said Henry Li, gen- eral manager and chief executive officer for the Sacramento Regional Transit Capital Metro District (SacRT). Date service launched: June 2017, one-year pilot By launching service in the entire city Number of microtransit vehicles operating: 4 of Citrus Heights and then rolling into Number of riders using the service: 87 Agency’s overall ridership since launch of microtransit pilot: 22,297 MICROTRANSIT Cost to the rider per trip: Free CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE MICROTRANSIT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE second and third zones, the agency potential destinations including a senior the ground,” said Lisa Womack, regional gathered useful data on customer center, farmer’s market, town hall, hos- mobility and contracted services/para- demand and where they want to go. pital, long-term care facilities, extended- transit manager. “That helped us tremendously to imple- stay hotels, two high schools and a “You have to do a really good job on ment our route optimization plan,” Li middle school—whose students wrote the marketing end, making sure people said, referring to the first redesign of the Winger every year asking for transit know what [your service] is, when it entire bus network in 30 years. options. “It hit a lot of the boxes you’d runs,” Auten said. “Make sure you get check for transportation-dependent,” early champions to drive the service. Extensive Communication and she said. [KCATA had] a comprehensive market- Marketing The county is administering the ing plan on the front end and a soft For microtransit to succeed, public tran- service through third-party vendor launch that allowed a continued excite- sit systems must commit to significant TransLoc. ment to build.” communication and marketing efforts, A partnership with the city of Snell- as well as strategic branding and part- ville, east of Atlanta, raised awareness Go Big in a Small Area nerships to spread the word about the of microtransit, as did discussion of the When launching microtransit, it’s better new service. The more quickly custom- pilot during an ongoing referendum for to saturate the small first area than to ers try out microtransit, the better data increased public transit funding. The provide bad or limited service that turns agencies will receive sooner about how Exceptional Foundation, which helps off riders, officials said. For example, well it’s working. support young adults who have devel- when Capital Metro started Pickup ser- Karen Winger, transit director for opmental delays, became advocates for vice, it operated just a few days a week, Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta, the service, especially the voice-to-text which confused customers. knew that microtransit has to deploy option, which facilitated group trips, “When people had to think about ‘is it with the technology already in place so grocery store expeditions and work running now or not?’ it was a deterrent,” riders don’t have to learn two systems commuting, Winger said. Ballentine said. “We went to every day in a short time span.