TY - JOUR
T1 - Transit in flex
T2 - Examining service fragmentation of app-based, on-demand transit services in Texas
AU - Weinreich, David P.
AU - Reeves, S. Matthew
AU - Sakalker, Amruta
AU - Hamidi, Shima
N1 - Funding Information:
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) covers thirteen cities, levying a one-cent sales tax over its service area ( Dallas Area Rapid Transit, 2018 ; Dallas Area Rapid Transit, n.d.-a ), mostly providing fixed route light rail and bus lines. Recently, DART initiated an app-based, on-demand service in three cities, intended to provide access to low density gaps in the network to the nearest DART light rail station ( Dallas Area Rapid Transit, n.d.-b ). App-based, on-demand service was intended to provide service to underserved parts of the system at lower cost than a bus, while attracting riders who typically didn't use public transit. This pilot service was supported by the FTA's Sandbox Program, and confined to limited zones around stations, chosen for their lack of fixed route service options (See Fig. 1 ). 3 3 While DART has had difficulty integrating its various services, this has been much more limited than in Arlington's case, with most of DART's challenges being confined to integration of its own services with those of the private contractors they hired to provide them, and integration with external private providers like Uber. While Via and TRE are governed and funded separately, leading to a lack of cooperation, DART has been able to accomplish much of its integration between app-based, on-demand services and fixed route services within its own service area, and within the same agency structure. Because DART's fixed route services and its app-based, on-demand services are provided by the same agency, using the same app, DART has been able to overcome many of the cross-agency fragmentation challenges seen in Arlington.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - App-based, on-demand services are a nascent mode of public transportation, which can provide point to point transportation, first-last mile access to fixed route transit, or serve in place of paratransit, among other uses. First-last mile service has emerged as a dominant service model in the Federal Transit Administration's MOD Sandbox Program. However this service model also requires strong integration between app-based, on-demand services and the traditional fixed route lines they connect to. Following previous research identifying the role transit governmental institutions can play in creating barriers to service integration, this study examines whether and how governmental institutions known to impact fixed route services have a similar effect on app-based, on-demand modes. This study surveys cities and transit agencies across Texas. Interviews and archival analysis are used to identify fragmentation challenges and causes in app-based, on-demand services. This study finds that many of the jurisdictional challenges identified for fixed route services also apply to emerging app-based, on-demand services. However the need for integration of apps poses a challenge not seen before. Integration needs make app-based, on-demand services of limited suitability for first/last mile connectivity when provided by separate agencies or companies, when formal and informal coordination is poor, and when fixed route services are infrequent.
AB - App-based, on-demand services are a nascent mode of public transportation, which can provide point to point transportation, first-last mile access to fixed route transit, or serve in place of paratransit, among other uses. First-last mile service has emerged as a dominant service model in the Federal Transit Administration's MOD Sandbox Program. However this service model also requires strong integration between app-based, on-demand services and the traditional fixed route lines they connect to. Following previous research identifying the role transit governmental institutions can play in creating barriers to service integration, this study examines whether and how governmental institutions known to impact fixed route services have a similar effect on app-based, on-demand modes. This study surveys cities and transit agencies across Texas. Interviews and archival analysis are used to identify fragmentation challenges and causes in app-based, on-demand services. This study finds that many of the jurisdictional challenges identified for fixed route services also apply to emerging app-based, on-demand services. However the need for integration of apps poses a challenge not seen before. Integration needs make app-based, on-demand services of limited suitability for first/last mile connectivity when provided by separate agencies or companies, when formal and informal coordination is poor, and when fixed route services are infrequent.
KW - App-based, on-demand
KW - Fragmentation
KW - Integration
KW - Interagency coordination
KW - Public transit
KW - Transportation Network Companies (TNC)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085649363&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.trip.2019.100060
DO - 10.1016/j.trip.2019.100060
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85085649363
SN - 2590-1982
VL - 5
JO - Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
JF - Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
M1 - 100060
ER -