Technology-Enabled Service Design for Improved On-Demand Transit
Transit agencies across Florida are exploring tech-enabled, on-demand service strategies to improve operational efficiency, better align service with demand, and respond to changing travel patterns. This session begins with a presentation summarizing a CUTR white paper on emerging on-demand transit service models in Florida, with a focus on service design considerations, implementation lessons, and key research needs. That presentation will be followed by an overview of microtransit-related highlights from this year’s APTA Mobility Conference. The session will then shift to an interactive panel discussion with representatives from Florida transit agencies and active audience participation. Panelists will share perspectives from their agencies’ experience and discuss how tech-enabled routing, service design decisions, and performance monitoring can be used to improve on-demand service delivery.
Potential discussion threads include:
- What kinds of problems agencies are trying to solve through these service strategies
- Lessons learned and challenges agencies have encountered
- How routing and dispatch technology is being used in practice
- Service design trade-offs, such as zones, fleet deployment, and service span
- How agencies are thinking about performance, including productivity, wait times, cost per trip, and broader service value
Transit Modernization Playbook: Practical Strategies for Delivering More Efficient and Reliable Service
This session addresses the “what” and “why” of transit modernization — exploring how and why agencies evolve their service models. Discussion may include transitions across fixed-route, hybrid, and on-demand service; strategic decision-making under fiscal and performance constraints; implementation realities; and lessons learned from agencies navigating these shifts.
Discussion topics include:
- What conditions or triggers most often prompt agencies to consider a service model shift
- Implementation realities: technology, procurement, staffing, training, and change management
- How agencies define success for fixed-route, hybrid, and on-demand services in different contexts
- Decision frameworks and trade-offs under fiscal constraints, performance expectations, and public/administrative expectations
- Common pitfalls, course corrections, and lessons learned from agencies that have made a system transition
Analytics in Practice: Turning Performance Data into Better Transit Service
This session is supported by the Florida Transit Planning Network (FTPN), and all transit professionals are welcome.
The session will focus on the analytical foundation behind operational modernization and system redesign. Panelists will share how they used available data to diagnose performance issues, evaluate trade-offs, and justify redesigning decisions in various operating environments and service mode types. Emphasis will be on practical applications and how agencies translated analysis into service improvements that resulted in demonstrable efficiencies. Case examples will highlight before/after impacts and how results were communicated to boards, elected officials, and the public to support implementation. PSTA will present an approach to align fixed route service with customer travel demand by peak and off-peak service as well as weekend service. Bayway will provide insight for delivering an innovative TNC/Uber Shared model after real world trial and error with a microtransit model demonstration. This is the session to share how transit agencies redefine and improve fixed route and mobility on demand services based on data analysis.