With public transit ridership down, could Uber-style service be the way of the future?

What if public transportation operated more like Uber than traditional transit routes, picking you up at your curb instead of a bus stop?

That's the thrust behind a pilot taking place in Delaware. It's an old-is-new-again project, combining the dial-to-ride services public transit agencies offered decades ago with new mobile app technology made popular by ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft.

"It's figuring out how to serve people that need public transit services [directly] instead of creating six route lines that don't serve many people," said John Sisson, CEO of Delaware Transit Corp., the division of the Department of Transportation that runs DART First State. "It's still an evolving idea."

The pilot, known as DART Connect, started in Georgetown and Millsboro two years ago. It's coming to Newark next, beginning Aug. 7.

How DART Connect works

Users request a ride through a mobile app. A mini-bus is then dispatched to pick them up and the user is given directions in the app to where the bus will pick them up. Sisson described it as a "curb-to-curb" service not a "door-to-door" as users are sometimes asked to walk a short distance to a place where the bus can pull over. A typical wait is about 15 minutes, Sisson said.

Most rides are direct, but buses can be sent by the app to pick up additional passengers on the way. The mini-buses can hold 16.

The fare is the same as a regular DART bus ride, $2 for a one-way ride. Daily ($4), weekly ($16) and monthly ($60) passes are also available.

Riders can also call DART to schedule a ride.

Testing in an urban, suburban setting

The Newark pilot will be Delaware's first test of the service, called "microtransit" in city planning parlance, in a mixed urban and suburban setting. It will be available to take riders anywhere within the city limits, Brookside and a few other immediate surrounding roads (both ends of the ride must be within the service area). It will run weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Whether the service can hold up to the demand in a more densely populated and traveled area will be closely watched by Sisson's team. DART will deploy two buses at first, but is leaving the option open of adding more at certain times of the day and would consider instituting a hybrid-style service if they notice patterns in the rides users are requesting.

Sisson thinks the microtransit service will complement DART's existing Newark routes not compete with them. Most of Newark's fixed routes take riders in and out of the city, but "aren't designed to take people around locally," Sisson said. He envisions some calling a ride to connect to the Newark transit hub on Delaware Avenue.

In Georgetown and Millsboro, DART Connect serves between 350 and 450 riders per week, according to Sisson. It replaced two "flex routes" that served a combined 300 riders per week in their waning days.

In Newark, DART Connect will replace Unicity, a free fixed route that circled the city of Newark on a 75-minute loop. Unicity averages 16 riders per day. Sisson estimated DART Connect will serve 150 to 200 daily riders.

The city spends about $200,000 a year on Unicity. DART will pay for the microtransit service, which will cost about $400,000 a year. The development of the app prior to the start of the Georgetown and Millsboro service was funded by a Federal Transit Administration grant.

Newark officials see it as a cost savings and a more efficient option than Unicity.

"It should be a win-win," Mayor Stu Markham said. "Not only should we get a better bus service, we should actually get less traffic downtown."

What's next

If it's successful, DART will consider expanding the service within Newark and possibly elsewhere. For now, it's one small aspect of the transit service's offerings. DART is in the middle of a yearlong study called "DART Reimagined" designed to evaluate current uses and future goals of the transit system.

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"The pandemic has changed travel patterns," Sisson said. "We need to identify areas that we're doing well and areas we need to do better."

In 2019, Delaware Transit Corp. reported 8.1 million "unlinked" trips. That figure fell to 5.1 million in 2021.

In 2021, fares generated about $9.6 million down from $21.5 million pre-pandemic. Since the pandemic, the corporation has been bolstered by federal dollars.

In a report for Benesch, a professional services firm, Senior Project Manager Randy Farwell wrote that microtransit is a viable option in suburban and other low-density environments where existing public transit is further for most residents than they are willing to walk. It allows traditional fixed route service to stay focused on key corridors where they are most efficient.

The rise of rideshare services demonstrated the system's broad appeal, Farwell wrote. Making it an option for lower-income people through services like DART Connect should be considered by transit agencies, he said.

Jarrett Walker, an international public transit consultant, is less bullish. In many cases, he wrote, a fixed route is more efficient, especially considering the main operating cost is the driver.

He agrees it can be an option in areas with low transit demand like rural towns and low-density suburbs, but if it's too popular the service can break down.

"Flexible service will never compete with fixed route on ridership grounds, so it should stop pretending that it can," Walker wrote. "Market the service as what it is. It’s one tool for providing lifeline access to hard-to-serve areas, where availability, not ridership, is the point."

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.