Unlocking the potential of microtransit in rural areas: A practitioner’s perspective.

Microtransit deployment has increased in the last few years. This phenomenon is accompanied by increasing funding for innovative transit solutions, carried mainly as pilot projects. Microtransit provides on-demand point-to-point public transportation service, booking through a mobile application in real-time as ordering a ride-hailing service at the price of a conventional bus ticket.

Microtransit has the potential to provide high-quality and convenient transit service for the general public while reducing the operation costs of the transit system, especially in low-density areas where scattered configurations and long distances predominate. This innovative solution for transit deserts, or poorly performing traditional transit routes, is gaining more attention from transit agencies due to the mentioned benefits, especially for helping to promote transit accessibility and equity for vulnerable populations in rural regions.

Despite their potential to enhance rural transportation, microtransit has been qualified as a failure-prone service. Research has found that 50% of recent microtransit deployments fail within two years, qualifying microtransit as a high-cost, experimental, uncertain, and unreliable solution. Moreover, the microtransit case reports have been better documented in urban areas from academic and practical perspectives. Nonetheless, there needs to be more understanding of the effectiveness of this solution in rural areas, as well as its implementation and practice. In addition, the impacts of eliminating a microtransit service after a pilot project for the communities have yet to be considered.

To prevent the failure of microtransit services in rural areas, implement a long-lasting and reliable solution for the community, and guarantee good investment in public sources, it is fundamental to understand when, where, and how to implement microtransit in rural areas.

For that purpose, rural microtransit practices are documented through the interviews of agencies implementing this service in rural settings, especially those with budgetary constraints, limited implementation power, and resources. That helps to understand the factors that should be considered in the decision, design, and implementation of microtransit, the process they follow, and the outcomes they have achieved with this new system. As a result, the lessons learned, best practices, and a guide for implementing microtransit in rural settings are presented. Addressing the cases when microtransit may be implemented, the factors influencing where it may operate, and how it should be implemented.

Preliminary results from the literature review indicate that rural areas with low-density, predominantly low-income, and low-car-ownership populations are more likely to rely on and use microtransit. In addition, by tailoring microtransit to diverse user needs and travel purposes, we can achieve equitable and accessible transportation services through community alignment for successful microtransit implementation. The goal is to guide policymakers and stakeholders toward sustainable mobility solutions that ensure transportation equity and accessibility in low-density settings.