“Mass transportation is an old-fashioned way of talking about transportation supply,” says Matt Caywood, co-founder of TransitScreen, which started up at Mobility Lab.
“It’s defined as a type of transportation that carries a lot of people. But that’s not the perspective of the tourist, who’s just trying to get somewhere in a new city.”
Here’s what’s happening: Instead of adding bus lines or building train tracks, cities turn to the sharing economy to build out their transportation networks. Diana Mendes, a senior vice president for HNTB, a Kansas City-based infrastructure firm, tracks public-private ventures all over the country. They include the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
How do you win? It starts with changing the way you think about mass transit, says Jeff Schramm, a Missouri University of Science and Technology expert on mass transportation and technology. Public transportation can be anything that gets you where you’re going—whether it’s on rails or hailed through an app.
“Think of mass transportation as part of the vacation,” he says. “It’s a way to experience a new place and learn about it and the people that live and work there.”
Maybe there’s a term to be coined here: transit-agnosticism—the idea that when it comes to getting around, everything from bikesharing to the subway will do. It’s something I experienced the last time I visited Washington, when I noticed that tourists used Metro and Uber interchangeably, as if they were almost one and the same.
To many, including myself, wrapping our heads around the idea that mass transit is no longer just mass transit is problematic. The rewards are considerable for people who do. Imagine being able to visit any city without having to bother with a pricey rental car.
Where rideshare is mass transit
Altamonte Springs, Fla. The city covers up to 25 percent of your Uber fare to or from the city’s commuter train station, or 20 percent of the fare for using Uber on all trips that begin and end within Altamonte Springs. The program recently expanded to Lake Mary, Longwood, Maitland and Sanford.
Dallas. Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Lyft have partnered to offer a “first-last” mile program for mass transit users. Riders can use the Lyft mobile app to connect with a driver, then connect to a bus or light rail. DART has a separate agreement with ZipCar.
Summit, N.J. To alleviate parking congestion, the city subsidizes ridesharing for a group of residents on a limited basis. It aims to save the taxpayers $5 million over the next two years, or about the cost of building a parking lot.