The Mash-Up of Micro-Transit and Paratransit August 2, 2018 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Ontario Public Transit Association Business Member Webinar Series Innovative Access and Mobility: August 2, 2018

The ‘Mash-Up’ of Micro-Transit and Paratransit

Conventional transit is hemorrhaging…

• We are challenged to keep our riders
• New mobility providers yet to make a profit
• Both better served by working together
• Personalize the travel experience
• Keep loyalty of those riding today but also

attract those that don’t ride

…yet paratransit demands are unsustainable

• Aging population
• Demand for service rising
• Industry average  8% of agency’s

service cost but only carrying 2-3% of ridership

• Necessary and mandated service
• Investments into accessible infrastructure

not being leveraged

Pivot the mindset Moving vehicles to moving people

• Accommodate individual transportation choice
• Establish culture of universal inclusivity
• Improve the travel experience

 more direct and faster

• Internal frontline education is a necessity
• Services become more equitable, efficient,

and sustainable

• Agency is future-proofed

Some strategies that realize objectives

• Comingling para and non-para customers
• Maximize productivity of a sunk cost
• Family of Services Concept
• Optimize use of all transportation

resources

• Personalized trip planning
• Public education
• Travel training
• Ride ambassadors
• Microtransit
• Technology is the enabler

Study of Best Practices for Alternative Service Delivery

• Like others, GET had been losing ridership for nearly a decade
• Different best practices, risks and opportunities, and legislation for

strategies like:

• Bike share
• Car share
• Ride share
• TNCs
• Comingled service (home to hub)
• Walking clubs
• Provided targeted recommendations based on:
• Areas or neighborhoods with low ridership routes
• High levels of GET-A-Lift service
• Demographics with transit propensity

Bakersfield, CA

Bakersfield, CA

Service substitution: home to hub

Candidates:

• Routes 21, 22, 61, 82 and 84

Route 82

• Option 1: Eliminate route 84 and

replace with home-to-hub services west of Coffee Rd. and north of Rosedale Hwy.

• Option 2: Also eliminate the

portion of route 82 in between Walmart and CSUB, and extend the home-to- hub services south, as far as the Kern River.

• Option 3: Also eliminate the

remainder of route 82 east of Walmart, and extend the home- to-hub services east, as far as Highway 99.

Low density, low ridership routes &

• verlapping travel patterns with paratransit

Bakersfield, CA

There’s a customer experience business case …

• Higher level of service
• Pick up customers at their ‘front doors’
• No hour-long wait for fixed route
• Promotes universal inclusivity
• Comingling riders with and without disabilities and mobility challenges
• Enables spontaneity of travel leveraging resources and assets

the agency already has

Bakersfield, CA

There’s an agency business case…

Bus Network Redesign (BNR) Project First/Last Kilometre Challenge

• ‘Rebooting’ entire route network to eliminate unproductive fixed

routes and focus on high quality service

• 200 routes  100 routes
• Locate ‘hot pockets’ or areas throughout Edmonton that would be
• rphaned or customer experience worsened under the new route

structure

• Toolbox of service alternatives and how they can be adapted for

different neighborhoods, based on geography, residential makeup, and land use

• Solutions tailored for different areas, saving ETS operating costs

and offering a better level of service for some residents

Edmonton, AB

Top ‘hot pockets’ emerging post BNR

A B C D E F G

Edmonton, AB

Options are only limited to one’s creativity

Edmonton, AB

All alternative service delivery (ASD) being explored for ETS

What ASD for what area? ASD Scoring Tool

Edmonton, AB

Stop style

• No stops/fixed stops
• Community density
• Barriers to access

Service Profile

• Service hours
• Previous ridership patterns

Schedule

• On demand
• Subscription based
• Fixed schedule

Oakville Transit The Pioneer of Home-To-Hub

• Introduced in July 2015 during Transit Service

Review

• Delivered with the care-A-van fleet, comingling

with specialized transit users

• Initially subscription based-only but recently

transitioned to an on-demand service

• Piloted only N of Dundas and at peak travel

times, in lieu of fixed route service (Route 5A)

• 80% increase in home-to-hub ridership over

and above existing Route 5A ridership

• Route 5A reintroduced due to heightened

demand without ridership loss  home-to- hub rolled out to other neighbourhoods

An OPTA Member Success Story Oakville, ON

Five Takeaways

1. Siloed traditional delivery models are antiquated, inefficient and unsustainable 2. Our customers are asking for more 3. Pivot the mindset

• Moving vehicles  Moving people
• 4. Look inward before looking outward
• TNCs are only one option
• Maximize underutilized capacity in existing

transit agency assets first

• 5. There are risks to embracing ASDs
• Fear of the unknown is natural
• However, biggest risk is NOT doing anything