RideCo, SEPTA Launch SEPTA OnDemand Paratransit Service

RideCo, in partnership with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), has launched phase one of the SEPTA OnDemand paratransit service. The largest on-demand transit system in the U.S. running on a cloud-based platform is now operating in four of six counties and will launch across the entire service region in the coming weeks.

“As we profiled in our vision statement, we are taking definitive steps to continually enhance mobility for the residents of Philadelphia,” said Leslie S. Richards, SEPTA general manager and CEO. “SEPTA’s partnership with RideCo and the adoption of their software is turning that vision into reality, transforming our paratransit system in record time, delivering a better experience for riders, and enabling us to achieve new milestones at a lower cost.”

The aggressive timeline to transform a large-scale paratransit system is an industry first. SEPTA wanted to move quickly on the initiative to improve operations and the collective team delivered a successful implementation in 4.5 short months.

“The implementation of SEPTA OnDemand is a showcase for modernized paratransit,” said Prem Gururajan, RideCo co-founder and CEO. “I’m proud of both the RideCo and SEPTA teams for their incredible work together, setting a preeminent example for how transit agencies can use the latest technology to revolutionize how they operate and deliver their services. We can already see that the positive impact on SEPTA and their riders will be enormous and long lasting.”

In September 2023, SEPTA contracted with RideCo to power on-demand transit services with the goal of improving rider experience while achieving greater operational and cost efficiency. The project involves teams across the SEPTA organization and includes the rollout of a fully integrated eligibility platform to simplify the certification process for riders; an integration with the SEPTA Key faring solution to address challenges in the previous fare collection process; as well as the implementation of an enhanced driver communication system hosted within RideCo’s one-tablet solution.

With RideCo software, SEPTA has the opportunity to co-mingle its paratransit and microtransit services and leverage the combined fleets to offer extensive flexibility to passengers and achieve greater cost efficiency.