CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Study Objectives

The objective of this synthesis is to document the state of the practice for providing on-demand microtransit service in rural areas. Microtransit service has been well researched and documented in reports such as TCRP Synthesis 141: Microtransit or General Public Demand–Response Transit Services: State of the Practice (Volinski, 2019). However, operating microtransit service in rural areas is different from operating service in urban areas and small towns. In rural areas, service zones must be larger to reach the population, trip lengths are longer, aggregating on-demand trips is more difficult, broadband access may be inconsistent, and hospital and clinic closures have increased the distance many people must travel to access medical services. Most practitioners hold the belief that it is difficult to provide truly on-demand service in rural contexts at a reasonable cost while meeting the needs of all residents. Through a literature review (Chapter 2), survey (Chapter 3), and case examples (Chapter 4), this report covers topics relevant to providing microtransit service in rural areas ranging from service design and delivery models to visioning, goals, and performance metrics to procurement, funding, technology, and marketing and customer education. Chapter 5 contains the team’s conclusions related to the state of the practice, highlighting trends and lessons learned from the experiences of the case example agencies.

Key Terms

• ADA complementary paratransit. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), agencies that provide fixed-route service are required to provide ADA complementary paratransit service—within three-quarters of a mile of all fixed-route service—to people who cannot access or use the fixed-route service because of a disability. Part 37 of Title 49 in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) describes the requirements, noting the principle that “each public entity operating a fixed route system shall provide paratransit or other special service to individuals with disabilities that is comparable to the level of service provided to individuals without disabilities who use the fixed route system.”
• Contracted service. This term refers to a service model in which a public agency contracts with a vendor or another organization to provide additional functions of a microtransit service beyond the technology and technology support. These functions can include, but are not limited to, drivers, vehicles, operations management, and customer service. This service model is also referred to as “purchased transportation.” Services that are almost entirely contracted or purchased, such that the responsibilities of individuals directly employed by the public entity are generally limited to oversight and contract management, are sometimes referred to as “turnkey” services.
• Demand response service. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) defines demand response service [in 49 CFR Section 604.3(g)] as any non-fixed route system of transporting

• individuals that requires advanced scheduling by the customer, including services provided by public entities, nonprofits, and private providers. [Circular 2710.2A (FTA, 1988) elaborates: “A demand response system is one where passenger trips are generated by calls from passengers or their agents to the transit operator, who then dispatches a vehicle to pick the passengers up and transport them to their destinations.” The operation is characterized, it continues, by the following: vehicles do not operate over a fixed route or on a fixed-route schedule (except on a temporary basis); vehicles may be dispatched to pick up several passengers at different pick-up points before taking them to their destinations and may even be interrupted en route to these destinations to pick up other passengers; these services can have any combination of origins and destination (i.e., many-to-many, many-to-one, one-to-many, or one-to-one).]
• Dial-a-Ride. This is a common form of demand response service that usually operates in a defined area, such as a city, county, or transit agency jurisdiction, during advertised days and hours. Pick-ups and drop-offs can take place anywhere in the service area. Dial-a-ride is most commonly offered in suburban and rural areas without sufficient population density to support fixed-route service. Riders request a pick-up time by calling, and service providers develop routes and schedules according to requests received. The service must be equivalent to passengers with and without disabilities, including wheelchair users (FTA, 2016).
• Directly operated service. This is a microtransit service model in which a public agency acquires microtransit technology from a vendor but continues to provide the majority of other service components and functions such as drivers, vehicles, operations management, and (typically) customer service, either directly or through a separate contract.
• Flexible service. Unlike fixed-route services that operate on regular schedules and with defined frequencies and fixed origins and destinations, flexible services require a trip reservation or request, sometimes with advance notice. The term flexible service can refer to a number of different modes, including route deviation, point deviation, demand response connector, request stop, flexible route segments, and zone route. Demand response service can be categorized as a type of flexible service, and for the purposes of ADA regulations, the FTA (in 49 CFR 37.3 Appendix D) states that it regards a system that permits user-initiated deviations from routes or schedules as demand responsive. Some demand responsive services can be designed as a hybrid of modes; for more information, see TCRP Synthesis 53: Operational Experiences with Flexible Transit Services (Koffman, 2004). (Note that in the context of flexible service, the term “reservation” is used broadly. For a dial-a-ride service, a reservation is scheduling a pick-up, whereas for route deviation, a reservation means asking the operator to deviate to a specific location.)
• Microtransit. Microtransit is as an information technology (IT)-enabled passenger transportation service that services passengers by dynamically generating routes and may expect passengers to make their way to and from common pick-up or drop-off locations. Microtransit services offer mobile apps to plan, request, pay for, and track trips, as well as providing routing capabilities that operate dynamically (N-CATT, 2023).
• On-demand service. On-demand services are those that allow someone to book their trip within an hour or less of when they want to travel. Even when microtransit routing and scheduling software offers a pre-booking option, on-demand service offers the option for in-service vehicles to receive ride requests and dynamically change their routing to accommodate them if certain conditions are met. While on-demand microtransit services are designed for app-based booking, virtually all agencies in the United States that provide the service also allow customers to book through a call center.
• Paratransit service. Paratransit service is a type of passenger transportation that is more flexible than a traditional fixed-route bus but more structured than a private automobile. Paratransit includes demand response transportation services, shared-ride taxis, carpooling and vanpooling, and jitney services. It most often refers to wheelchair-accessible demand response service without a mobile booking option.

• Rural. Across the United States, the term “rural” is not defined consistently, and by some seems to be used to describe all places other than urban or dense suburban areas. For the purposes of this report, rural is defined as areas that were located outside of a U.S. Census-designated urbanized area (sometimes referred to as a “UZA”) as of 2020. Urbanized areas are those located in proximity to a region with a total population of at least 50,000 and that have a population density of more than 500 people per square mile. This report focuses on microtransit services that operate in part or fully outside of urbanized area boundaries. This definition is critical to the study; there are many agencies that operate microtransit in small towns outside of dense urban areas but fully or predominantly within urbanized areas. (Note that the U.S. Census defines urbanized areas as areas with 50,000 or more people and a minimum of 1,275 housing units per square mile. The Census defines all areas that do not qualify as urbanized as rural. The FTA designates areas located outside of a U.S. Census-designated area with a population of less than 50,000 as rural and eligible for 5311 formula funds.)