Performance of DART Mobility on Demand First Mile and Last Mile Transit Demonstration Evaluated Using Activity Data and User Survey.
Plano, Texas, United States
Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Demonstration: DART First and Last Mile Solution
Summary Information
As a part of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Demonstration, this pilot study aimed to improve first mile/last mile (FMLM) access to Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) transit for all people including individuals with disabilities, improve the experience of transit, increase transit ridership, and provide more transit options for riders in underserved areas. The GoPass application (app), DART’s existing regional mobile app, was modified and enhanced through this pilot to facilitate first and last mile connections to offer transit riders travel options based on price, wait time, travel time, and payment. This study implemented a three-phase approach by leveraging the Application Programming Interfaces (API) of key mobility partners and providers during 2017-2018 in the Legacy West, Plano and Far North Plano (FNP) areas: first, a Microtransit app, called GoLink, was developed; second, a smart app switch which included metadata information connected GoLink with GoPool (a pre-existing carpooling app) was created; and finally, the complete integration of GoLink was accomplished. DART’s GoLink app offered microtransit services through collaboration with a microtransit provider and Transportation Network Company (TNC) to pilot areas that did not have bus services before, and provided mid-day service to restaurants and shops that previously had not been available. Moreover, in Phase 3, the upgraded GoPass app provided on demand travel information for multimodal trips and provided a remittance mechanism for payment. DART also started an UberPool program in three Plano GoLink zones in March 2019 to offer another MOD option at a lower rate (DART subsidized the difference between the DART rate and the actual cost of the Uber trip). Both quantitative and qualitative evaluations were conducted using trip activity data and a user survey to assess performance.
METHODOLOGY
Performance metric themes used to evaluate the performance of the DART MOD Sandbox Demonstration services include FMLM access, response time, travel time, fare, customer satisfaction, transit access area, ridership change, subsidy per rider, and operating costs. The April 2019 data included user feedback from a total of 1,138 riders. Besides survey data, activity data from two platforms developed for the GoLink system was also used.
FINDINGS
- Results of a MOD customer survey showed improvements in overall customer satisfaction. For the FMLM access, 91 percent of the survey respondents rated their experience as good or excellent after implementation of GoLink with an increase of 57 percent from pre-implementation. Good or excellent ratings for the overall access to the bus and rail system increased by 46 and 54 percent after GoLink implementation among all users and users with disabilities, respectively.
- Among the riders with disabilities, none had rated their access as poor or very poor, and 53 percent rated it as good or excellent.
- Response and travel times to access the system improved over time and were improved through the inclusion of TNCs. The response time for the DART GoLink provided service was reported to be shorter for riders with disabilities (6-7 minutes) than the general public (5-13 minutes).
- Seventy (70) percent of riders rated their wait time as good or excellent and none of the riders with disabilities rated it as very poor.
- Eighty (80) percent of the riders were satisfied with the travel time of their trip and 86 percent had rated the system as good or excellent. Ninety one (91) percent also rated the system five stars.
- For riders with disabilities, 89 percent of the users had rated the system as good or excellent. Approximately 78, 67, 94, and 84 percent of riders with disabilities rated trip planning, scheduling, fare payment, and other, respectively, as good or excellent.
- The findings also indicated that the addition of UberPool brought net new riders instead of just migrating vanpool riders to UberPool.
- Overall, MOD extended coverage to areas with little or no transit, thus also increased overall transit ridership and reduced cost to DART.
