A new kind of transportation service could be coming to the Albany region. It's not ride-sharing, and it's not a bus. It's more like a cross between the two.
The Capital District Transportation Authority is working on a pilot for what it calls "micro transit," a system of 8-passenger vans that would drive along flexible routes determined by requests for pickups and dropoffs made through an app.
The service would work best in more suburban areas where traditional bus service doesn't reach or doesn't draw many riders.
"Fixed-route service is OK, I'm not sure it performs real well for us, or for our customers" in those sorts of areas, said Carm Basile, CEO of CDTA.
So far CDTA identified a few zones to run simulations: downtown Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa, Clifton Park/Mechanicville, and an area covering Crossgates and Colonie Center in Albany County.
A subsidiary of Ford Smart Mobility called TransLoc is doing data analysis and simulations for CDTA, and helping develop the software for the service. Ford covers nearly 90% of the cost for this work, leaving CDTA to contribute $25,000.
Then it's up to CDTA to buy or lease the vans and operate the service. It's aiming to run a pilot with two or three buses in one of the four zones this fall.
Micro transit could help CDTA reach a new audience of riders, especially outside of downtowns. Currently, the top quarter of CDTA's routes make up 75% of ridership. The other 30 or so routes don't perform nearly as well.
Towns like Clifton Park, where employers have struggled to hire workers without a bus line, would be prime for micro transit, Basile said.
Cities around the country have tried similar services. In Boston, a private company called Bridj ran a fleet of 14-seat vans starting in 2014, using more or less the same concept that CDTA is pursuing.
Bridj shut down after three years, but some argued it would have been more successful had it been part of the public transit agency because of the challenging business model of transportation services.
TransLoc, the subsidiary of Ford, is taking a different approach. It's working with about 40 cities around the country by partnering with the likes of CDTA, and shouldering many of the upfront costs.
So Basile is optimistic about the tech-first program, which is new for CDTA.
"A year ago, it was pie in the sky," Basile said. "A couple of months ago, it was like, this is going to happen."
Source:
https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/n..._news_headline
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