DCTA's GoZone celebrates two-year anniversary
Denton County Transportation Authority's (DCTA) GoZone on-demand rideshare has hit a two-year milestone of transportation services to thousands of riders every month.
Since launching in September 2021, GoZone has gained popularity for its on-demand transit programs with monthly ridership peaking at more than 77,000 rides in May 2023. As of mid-August, GoZone has completed more than 1.3 million rides.
“In just two years, GoZone has greatly impacted the public transit landscape in Denton County by providing service that meets unique needs across our member cities,” said Paul Cristina, CEO at DCTA. “GoZone is delivering thousands of riders to where they need and want to go as a critical part of our suite of transit options, and DCTA is proud to be a national leader in integrating on-demand transit and fixed route network assets.”
DCTA originally added GoZone to its network to enhance the value of the agency’s service offerings to its member cities by providing services to areas that are normally hard to reach with fixed-route buses due to lower population density or unpredictable ridership patterns.
In the zones where GoZone operates (Denton and Lewisville/Highland Village), the service has expanded residents’ access to jobs within a 30-minute commute by almost 94 percent. The service has also successfully gotten more citizens out of cars and onto public transit, with about 50 percent of GoZone trips replacing rides previously served by private cars.
“GoZone continues to perform well above our expectations. Day to day wait times and availability exceed our high standards, and we are seeing nearly double the ridership in Lewisville than we had previously drawn with bus service there," Cristina said.
GoZone is powered by TransitTech provider Via, which operates similar on-demand transit programs in more than 600 communities globally, including ZIPZONE in Fort Worth, Via Arlington in Arlington, and Via Grand Prairie in Grand Prairie.
