And Improve Service Quality

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The most expensive decision a transit agency can make right now? Cutting service. It may seem counterintuitive, but when agencies reduce coverage or service hours, they don’t just lose trips. They lose riders, fare revenue, and even public trust. And once that trust is gone, it’s hard—and costly—to rebuild.

Good news: by adopting new technology, tools, and operational approaches, leading agencies are often able to maintain, or even improve, the volume and quality of the service while reducing costs. Here are seven strategies that consistently deliver measurable results, as proven by hundreds of agencies across the U.S. Best of all, each can be deployed quickly—in a matter of weeks or months, not years.

1. Use AI and machine learning to optimize paratransit scheduling and maximize ADA service productivity

Outdated paratransit software often produces inefficient schedules, leaving vehicles underutilized and driving a high cost-per-trip. Modern, AI-powered platforms automate scheduling in real time, and maximize the efficiency of each shift, ensuring more riders per vehicle hour and fewer empty miles while reducing the need for manual intervention. Trinity Metro in Fort Worth made the switch and saw a 13% efficiency gain, and long trips were cut by 86%.

2. Commingle demand-response fleets to streamline operations and maximize fleet productivity

Bringing paratransit and microtransit onto the same software platform, and serving some trips with the same fleet, has the potential to lower cost-per-ride and improve rider experience by maximizing fleet utilization and, in appropriate cases, serve paratransit trips with smaller microtransit vehicles. A large midwestern agency adopted this approach and saved $1M annually, reducing cost per trip by $25 while delivering higher on-time performance (OTP) and better rider ratings.

3. Add compliant, dynamic overflow capacity to reduce peak costs

When paratransit demand peaks, agencies can struggle to maintain OTP without scheduling costly additional shifts or risking FTA compliance by incorporating TNCs as overflow providers. A more cost-effective (and compliant!) approach is to combine a core fleet of wheelchair-accessible vehicles with a pool of supplemental drivers and vehicles that can flex up when needed. NJ Transit took this approach and completed over 33,000 FTA-compliant trips with a 98% OTP and reduced cost-per-ride by 60%.

4. Replace underperforming fixed routes with on-demand service

Coverage-oriented fixed routes in lower-density areas are often costly to operate, serve a small number of riders, and offer a poor quality of service. By analyzing the entire network, agencies can identify underperforming routes that could be more efficiently served with microtransit. Sarasota County, FL identified 12 underperforming routes. By replacing them with an on-demand microtransit service, the agency cut $2.4M in fixed-route expenses, reinvested the savings into on-demand, and grew annual ridership nearly five-fold—from 80,000 to 380,000 trips.

5. Automate planning and scheduling workflows to save staff time and operator hours alike

Smarter, AI-powered tools for planning and scheduling drive efficiencies in two ways: by reducing staff time and by producing more efficient timetables and runcuts with fewer vehicle hours and lower costs-per-trip. Santa Rosa CityBus used advanced planning tools for a network redesign and saved 300 staff hours. Charleston’s KRT rescheduled service using automated tools and reduced driver-hour needs enough to save $1M annually.

6. Use advanced operating tools to improve the efficiency of operations

Even with the right service plan, costs can escalate if operations aren’t optimized. To drive operational efficiency, a combination of technology tools and smart approaches can help to reduce overhead and ensure that resources are deployed where they’ll be most useful. Via adopted two innovative approaches for LA Metro’s microtransit service: AI-powered supply planning, to match vehicle hours with rider demand, and a hub-and-spoke depot model, which limited deadhead. This allowed LA Metro to reduce the cost per ride by 12% while increasing ridership by 20%.

7. Adopt a whole network approach to improve coverage cost-effectively

A successful multimodal service—incorporating fixed routes, microtransit, and paratransit—needs to have the right modes in the right places. First, develop an integrated plan, identifying where and how each mode should operate to provide the right combination of coverage and service quality. Second, implement integrated transit features that help riders easily access, and connect between all modes. Sioux Falls redesigned its network by integrating buses, microtransit, and paratransit, resulting in an 86% efficiency boost in demand-response, a 10% increase in fixed-route ridership, and an 18% reduction in cost per ride.

Daniel Berkovits
Senior Vice President, Strategy and Planning

Ready to cut costs and improve service? Book your tailored efficiency analysis today https://ridewithvia.com/efficiency-analysis or email [email protected].