Title
On-Demand Multimodal Transit
Atlanta, GA
Contact
PROJECT LEAD
Pascal Van Hentenryck
CONTACT INFO
- phentenryck3@gatech.edu
THE IDEA
The Atlanta team implemented MARTA Reach, an on-demand, dynamic shuttle service to and from fixed transit routes to solve first-mile, last-mile issues for residents.
THE CHALLENGE
The challenge this project addresses is to fundamentally modernize transit systems, complementing traditional fixed routes designed for rail and buses with on-demand, dynamic shuttles that act as feeders to and from and to the fixed routes.
The resulting on-demand, multimodal transit systems address the first and last mile problem, provide a door-to-door service that improves accessibility to jobs, health-care, shopping, and social services, and reduce congestion.
THE TEAM
Research Partners:
- Georgia Tech
Civic Partners:
- Atlanta Bicycle Coalition
- MARTA
THE APPROACH
The MARTA Reach pilot program initially targeted three zones in Atlanta: West-Atlanta (a low- income neighborhood), Belvedere Park (a mixed-use and diverse neighborhood), and Fort Gillem (a job center). The team developed a cloud computing platform, optimization and machine learning algorithms, and mobile and web applications to support MARTA Reach. They enable riders to order rides and operators to serve these rides based on the routing and dispatching algorithms.
THE IMPACT
- MARTA Reach served over 8,300 passengers during the pilot, and the ridership increased consistently throughout the pilot, with an increase of 61% in the last month (August) compared to the previous month (July).
- In the morning hours (6am-9am), over 70% of the trips are multimodal with a connection to rail in West-Atlanta.
- MARTA Reach had over 99.5% uptime and over 95% of very satisfied or satisfied riders. 96% said they would use the system more or at least frequently if it were available long-term.
- MARTA Reach improves accessibility to jobs, health facilities, and shopping, bringing a large cohort of new riders, while replacing single-occupancy vehicles about 40% of the time, and long bus rides over 20% of the time.