Six Agencies Are Chosen for the Mobility on Demand On-Ramp Program

The Shared-Use Mobility Center announced the selection of six public transportation agencies to receive free technical assistance to develop mobility-on-demand (MOD) projects through its MOD On-Ramp program. Independent evaluators from both public agencies and private firms, in consultation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), selected the six projects from a pool of 28 proposals from around the country. Projects from the following six agencies were selected:

• Capital Metro-Austin Public Transit (Capital Metro) (Austin, Texas) – Electric/Autonomous vehicles
• The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA) (Baltimore, Maryland) – Microtransit
• IndyGO - Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGO) (Indianapolis, Indiana) – Mobility hubs
• Tompkins County Social Services (Ithaca region, New York) – MaaS/Integration
• The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) (Memphis, Tennessee) – First-last mile
• The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) (San Francisco Bay Area, California) – ADA Paratransit

The On-Ramp program, part of a partnership with FTA, provides an opportunity for public transportation agencies and other transportation providers with promising MOD concepts to receive expert assistance to develop business plans and other project-building strategies. The selected participants will engage in a comprehensive, year-long process that will assist with project development through supported engagement, peer mentoring, research, and other activities.

Participants will receive support to:

• Conduct workshops in their communities to determine local mobility needs and set parameters for projects;
• Participate in a national community of practice with peer agencies and related experts as well as access to in-person workshops;
• Utilize research and analysis from SUMC and other experts;
• Collaborate one-on-one with peers and identify resources to meet challenges; and
• Develop feasible MOD business plans.

“We need to continue to innovate in public transit to find new ways to improve and expand transportation options for all. Shared mobility partnerships can test out new technologies and creative ideas that have the potential to improve customers’ rides and increase efficiencies for agencies. New pilots are one of the best ways to develop new service models” said SUMC Executive Director Sharon Feigon. “We look forward to continuing our work with FTA and the selected agencies to help guide the critical early stages of their projects.”

“FTA is pleased with the level of interest, and the variety of ideas proposed in the MOD On-Ramp process,” said Vincent Valdes, associate administrator of the FTA’s Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation. “This makes it clear that communities around the country continue to look to the Mobility on Demand concept as a viable solution to their mobility challenges. We look forward to working with the Shared Use Mobility Center to support the six selectees, learning from them, and sharing their learning with agencies around the country.”

About the Selected Projects

Capital Metro-Austin Public Transit (Austin, Texas) is helping a rapidly growing region address the challenges of sprawl, congestion, and changing travel patterns. They are examining shared, electric, and autonomous vehicles — what they term “smart mobility” — to connect to high frequency/high capacity transit service and to provide transportation for riders with disabilities. Evaluators commented that Austin’s Pickup microtransit pilot illustrated the agency’s existing commitment to mobility on demand solutions.

Maryland Department of Transportation (Baltimore, Maryland) is developing a plan for microtransit to replace an infrequent, indirect bus route to better connect high-opportunity job centers in the suburbs and low-income residential populations in the city.

Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (Indianapolis, Indiana) is developing strategic plans for integrated mobility hubs in a series of “mobility districts,” selected according to their urban typology. Each plan will focus on connecting hubs to their existing transit network. The evaluators praised the thoroughness of the application and its commitment to creating a lower-friction transit environment in a car-centric city.

Tompkins County Social Services (Ithaca region, New York) serves a largely rural area in the Ithaca metropolitan area. The county’s Way2Go community mobility education program, to both reduce solo driving trips and provide equitable transportation access to its residents, is proposing a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) pilot.

Memphis Area Transit Authority (Memphis, Tennesse) plans to develop a demand-responsive service to transport riders from their doorstep to arterial routes in selected corridors of the city. The program, which will replace a fixed-route bus, seeks to improve service to both people in disadvantaged neighborhoods and paratransit riders.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (San Francisco Metropolitan Area, California) is aiming to create an on-demand wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) ride-hailing service. The rides would be staged at BART stations, and would provide either short, single-leg trips, or first/last mile trips to the stations.

About the MOD On-Ramp Program

The On-Ramp program builds on two existing initiatives and leverages the existing resources of the Shared-Use Mobility Center:

1. The FTA’s MOD Sandbox Program, which supports 11 cities across the country as part of a larger U.S. Department of Transportation research effort to help transit agencies and communities integrate new mobility tools like smart phone apps, bike-sharing, car-sharing and demand-responsive bus and van services.
2. SUMC’s work on the Innovation and Knowledge Accelerator (IKA), created by FTA to facilitate idea exchange, discussions of lessons learned and mutual support among MOD Sandbox participants and others interested in implementing shared-mobility programs.
3. SUMC’s clearinghouse that includes the Shared Mobility Toolkit—made up of a Policy Database, Benefits Calculator and Mapping and Opportunity Analysis tool—that will help guide On-Ramp participants.
4. The experience of the SUMC staff in researching, designing, and implementing shared-mobility projects around the country. SUMC’s current or recent projects include Transit Cooperative Research Program research on ridehailing and private transit, work on electric car-sharing implementation in several California communities, implementation of shared mobility action plans in Los Angeles County and the Twin Cities, launching a MaaS platform in California’s San Joaquin Valley, supporting an all-electric car-sharing project in low-income areas in Los Angeles, and more.

As with the Innovation and Knowledge Accelerator program, the On-Ramp will build a shared knowledge-base and accelerate learning on issues that affect the implementation of MOD projects and develop resources for use by the wider MOD field.