In Tuesday, October 21st’s Council Work Session, Lextran General Manager Fred Combs will present an overview of Lextran’s Microtransit Feasibility Study and share steps Lextran would need to take for a microtransit pilot to happen.
You can review the presentation slides starting on page 38 of this packet.
🙋♀️ What is microtransit?
Microtransit is a broad term used to describe public transportation that typically provides door-to-door or curb-to-curb service using smaller vehicles like cars or vans. It often functions very similarly to Uber of Lyft, where a rider can book a ride on a public transit agency’s app and a driver will pick them up and drop them off at or near their destination.
- Microtransit has come up as a talking point in Lexington over the past year or so due to advocacy from BUILD, a coalition of Lexington churches that advocates for various policies.
- BUILD believes a microtransit service could fill existing transit gaps for people who live too far away from a bus stop who cannot afford private microtransit services like Uber or Lyft, and for whom Lextran’s paratransit Wheels service is too unreliable.
Much of the information in Tuesday’s presentation repeats a presentation from earlier this year on the preliminary results of the same microtransit study. You can read that piece for a more detailed look at what the study recommends for a microtransit pilot program, but here are some highlights:
- The study recommends a two-year pilot program in one specific area of Lexington between Newtown Pike, Versailles Road, and Citation Boulevard/Alexandria Drive.
- Riders could be picked up and dropped off anywhere within the zone.
- If riders want to go to a destination outside the zone, they would have to take a microtransit trip to a bus stop and connect to Lextran’s bus routes for the rest of the trip.
- Service hours would be 6am to 8pm Monday through Friday, with two drivers available for trips throughout the day.
- The pilot program would cost roughly $2.3 million to operate over two years.
- Only 5% of the operating costs would be covered by rider fares. Lextran would need to find another funding source for the rest of the operating costs.
- Rides would cost $3 per trip and include free transfer tickets for people to connect to Lextran’s bus routes.
- Many of these details, specifically around service hours and fares, could change depending on how and whether Lextran’s Board of Directors decides to pursue the service pilot.
Council allocated $250k to Lextran to help fund the proposed pilot. At-Large Councilmember Chuck Ellinger, who has been Council’s leading advocate for microtransit, is requesting an additional $475k to Lextran to support the pilot.
Lextran staff is working on fleshing out more details of the pilot, including whether or not Lextran would operate it themselves or hire a contractor to provide the service, how the booking app would work, and finding a funding source for the pilot.
Council Work Session will be held on Tuesday, October 21st at 3pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.
Reach out to Gregory Butler, Lextran’s Planning and Community Development Manager, here!
