Published on: October 4, 2024
Microtransit isn’t a new concept, but its popularity among public transit agencies and transit stakeholders has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic changed ridership habits nationwide. With fewer people commuting to and from city centers during the traditional morning and evening rush, interest in more immediate and direct forms of transportation has soared.
A cross between buses that run on set routes and schedules and private rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, microtransit is a shared ride that operates when and where people request trips.
Transit agencies can operate microtransit services in several ways, however the most common form is a point-to-point ride within a specific zone, like DART On Demand service in Ankeny, which provides roughly 2,000 trips a month to workplaces, schools, shopping centers, medical offices and other destinations across Ankeny. DART On Demand in Ankeny is a growing microtransit service that allows riders to book their rides in real-time.
There are many benefits to the microtransit model for both riders and transit agencies, but this style of service also has limitations to consider.
Here are five key things to know about microtransit:
1. Microtransit depends on technology.
Microtransit is driven by software that makes immediate connections between a vehicle’s location and incoming ride requests. Riders use a smartphone app or website to request a ride by entering their desired pick-up and drop-off location. The software’s algorithms then identify an appropriate route to the rider’s location and an estimated pick-up time. Since microtransit is a shared ride rather than a personal service, the software is designed to re-route vehicles and adjust pick-up, and drop-off times based on other requests that come in along the way.
Technology also puts riders in control of their trip. Instead of planning their travel according to fixed-route schedules, riders can request trips on their own time and have flexibility to cancel or change them as needed. Riders can usually get picked up within 20 minutes of their request, even during busy times.
Service that is driven by technology demands a level of tech-savviness from riders as they are required to use digital tools each time they need a ride. When internet or technology disruptions arise, microtransit service can also experience problems and delays, decreasing its reliability and effectiveness at that time.
2. Microtransit works best when people are traveling to spread out locations.
Microtransit is especially useful where there is non-centralized demand for public transit. It meets a need in locations where people who rely on transit live or work farther apart, like in rural and suburban communities. This service helps get people where they need to go more directly and reduces the need to make connections in a transit hub or at shared bus stops in nearby towns.
A demand-responsive service requires thoughtful management. Meeting riders’ exact pick-up and drop-off needs within a few blocks adds time for microtransit vehicles because they are regularly detouring off main roads to reach parking lots, neighborhoods and shopping centers. Since everyone has a unique destination, vehicles are driving to various areas of town using routes that are not always efficient.
Further, microtransit vehicles will wait several minutes for a rider, adding idling time for the vehicle and the driver and preventing them from picking up others. This differs greatly from fixed-route service, where riders wait for a bus at a designated stop and board quickly when it arrives, keeping the bus running on a set schedule and path.
3. Microtransit reliability shifts with demand.
When demand is steady, microtransit riders can request rides easily. This can change as demand rises, however. During busy times, microtransit services may occasionally deny riders’ trips because fewer vehicles and drivers are available in real-time.
When demand is lower, there may be fewer microtransit vehicles in service, delaying how quickly a rider can book a trip, meaning they may wait longer for a microtransit vehicle to arrive. While riders rely on a predetermined schedule for fixed route service, fluctuating microtransit demand requires riders to account for frequent shifts in their day-to-day pick-up and drop-off times, making it less reliable for those who use public transit to get to work.
Operating microtransit and preparing service for variable demand is a delicate balance for transit agencies and is much different from managing fixed-route service that follows a set path and schedule regardless of demand.
4. Microtransit provides a transit option to more residents but serves fewer.
Fixed-route buses normally travel on mainline roads for most of their routes because navigating them through neighborhoods, parking lots and along narrow streets is difficult. Remote or suburban locations are also often less walkable, making it harder for riders to get to bus stops. Microtransit can reach people in areas where fixed-route service isn’t available because vehicles are nimbler and not susceptible to the same “wear and tear” as large 30- or 40-foot buses.
“Microtransit is a great way to expand transit service in areas that are hard to serve with fixed route,” explained Tony Filippini, DART’s Planning and Development Manager and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). “Microtransit is not necessarily a replacement for fixed route.”
Expanding service in certain communities or increasing the size of a service area with microtransit comes with constraints. Microtransit vehicles carry fewer people than fixed-route buses, therefore requiring a larger fleet or a limit to how many people can ride at a time.
5. Microtransit costs more as ridership grows.
Ridership is often an important indicator of public transit’s success. Fixed-route buses can easily handle a rise in ridership with vehicles already on the road, which leads to higher revenue collected through fares and tangibly represents the impact of the service. Unlike microtransit, the cost of fixed-route service is firm, regardless of ridership.
For microtransit, increasing ridership illustrates that the service is valuable to residents, but also requires purchasing more vehicles and hiring more drivers. As a result, the cost to transit agencies per rider grows when more people use microtransit. DART’s fixed-route buses serve an average of 17 people per hour at a cost of $6 per trip, while DART On Demand serves an average of three people per hour at a cost of $24 per trip.
Responding to high microtransit ridership becomes challenging for transit agencies as they contrast the benefits of its popularity with the funds operating it requires. For example, hiring more drivers to serve more people lends itself to higher costs, since employee salaries make up a significant portion of a transit agency’s budget. To account for higher costs and elevated demand, transit agencies occasionally have to increase microtransit fares, like DART did with its On Demand service in summer 2024.
Learn More
DART continues to pilot ways of delivering microtransit through our On Demand service and will explore possibly expanding options as a part of Reimagine DART, a planning effort that will set a regional vision and transit service network for the next decade.
Learn more about our current microtransit service, DART On Demand Ankeny, here.