Tulsa Transit will have a consultant evaluate what it will take for the agency to implement a mobility as a service model and what other transit agencies across the country are doing.
The idea is giving riders more transportation options to plan their trips so they can easily get from their front door to a destination.
"It could be a bike. It could be a scooter. It could be an Uber-type service. So, what we want to do is be able package those together, make them part of an app, a smart phone app, so in one place you can plan your entire trip out," said Tulsa Transit General Manager Ted Rieck.
Consulting firm HNTB will carry out the study, which will look at Tulsa Transit's current services and its GoPass smartphone app, which lets passengers pay bus fares. The agency also plans to add This Machine bike rentals to the app soon. The pilot programs being considered would supplement nightline and Sunday service, and supplement or replace route 508 in Broken Arrow.
"The people who ride that service may be better served by an on-demand model instead of what we're serving now. They would be better served, it would cost us less. So, it's kind of a win-win scenario, and there could be other examples like that," Rieck said.
Nightline service costs Tulsa Transit around $40 per passenger. Rieck thinks a mobility as a service approach could cut that in half.
It will take HNTB about six months to complete the study, and Tulsa Transit will work with INCOG to ensure social service transportation is included in the evaluation. There will be opportunities for public input.
