Lexington’s Transit Authority, also known as LexTran, included $70,000 in their latest budget to study the feasibility of microtransit in certain parts of the city.
Microtransit is an on-demand system that sits between public transportation and ride-share services like Uber, offering more flexible routes.
Emily Elliott is LexTran’s Director of Planning and Community Development. She says microtransit’s use depends on the city, and that the study would look at how it could be implemented.
“The feasibility study is going to let us know what areas look the most promising, it's going to give us an idea of how it should work in our area,” Elliott said. “So is it virtual bus stops? Is it first mile-last mile curbs and then to a bus stop?”
Elliott says cost is one of the biggest factors on if they decide to implement microtransit.
“It's not just sort of, ‘Oh It's a couple of million dollars for a pilot project, we’re good,’ Elliott said. “It's, what does long term sustainable funding look like, and what will it cost year over year to pay for something like this, and how to maintain it?”
If the study gives positive results, LexTran would look for grant funding to help implement a pilot project. LexTran estimates a pilot would cost around $3 million, and would need grant funding to get it implemented.
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