Read: Who gets to live in Silicon Valley? But microtransit is about as inefficient as dial-a-ride always was, for reasons that no technology will change. Apps let customers reserve trips on shorter notice than before, and without making a phone call. The only new feature of microtransit is smartphones. As a transit-planning consultant, I have been designing and redesigning dial-a-rides for 25 years. There are hundreds of these services in the United States. The van might stop for others along the way, too. People can call a phone number and request a vehicle to take them where they want to go, or at least to a transit hub. Microtransit, or “ Uber for public transit,” as some advocates call it, is a new name for an old idea: “dial-a-ride,” or demand-responsive transit. The best way to get the most people around a city efficiently and cheaply isn’t nearly as sexy or high-tech: It’s fixed-route buses.
So it feels right that shrinking transit might be a good idea, too, maybe into little vehicles that will come to your door on demand. With shared electric scooters, and improvements to bicycle access, people are finding new ways to move without taking up much more space than their body does. Cities don’t have room for everyone’s car. In some cases, shrinking vehicles is a great idea. A recent conference I attended featured a panel called “Microtransit: The Fight Against Congestion.” Microtransit: It sounds as though a genius has shrunk public transportation in a laboratory, making it adorable.
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