The importance of reliable public transportation may be easily overlooked by a majority of car-owning households, but as the COVID-19 pandemic forces many cities to significantly cut service, it’s been hard to ignore the void. A disproportionately large number of essential service workers like grocery store employees, delivery people, first responders, and healthcare workers still depend on access to public transportation to get to work during the global health crisis. However, steep declines in ridership leave some transit agencies no choice but to decrease service, with the U.S. government even going as far as allocating $25B in stimulus funding to keep public transportation operational. The critical need for transportation during the pandemic is why cities and companies across the world have been adapting their transit services — or launching new ones — to address the rapidly changing needs of their communities. From changes that help essential employees get to work more easily (and often for free) to utilizing transit drivers and vehicles for delivery of vital goods, here are a number of cities and organizations that have partnered with Via to make fast changes to help their communities during the pandemic.
1. Dan Transportation — Tel Aviv, Israel
Israel’s government shut down all public transportation in March in order to keep people safe, meaning travel options for those who still need to get to work — and who are working around the clock to treat the sick — became limited. Tel Aviv’s Bubble Dan was swiftly repurposed as a transportation engine for essential healthcare workers, expanding the service zone from three cities to six in just two days. The move was strategic, with the new zones covering eight additional hospitals, three of which are the largest medical centers in the region.
2. Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) – Ohio, U.S.
Within two weeks, COTA evaluated its fixed-route ridership and revamped their service to address lower ridership along certain routes. Headquartered in Columbus, COTA is using its surplus vehicles and drivers to serve critical locations like hospitals, grocery stores, food banks, and other critical transportation using the city’s newly launched COTA Plus app.
3. Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) – Berlin, Germany
The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) rapidly made changes to its on-demand public transportation network BerlKönig to more effectively focus its service on essential employees, and to minimize person-to-person contact. Within days they expanded their zone to include access to 75 percent of all hospital beds in Berlin, providing free transportation to essential healthcare workers. They also altered their hours of operation to better align with medical shifts, and capped all vehicles at 50 percent capacity, allowing only half of the normal amount of passengers to share a ride.
4. Go-Coach – Kent, U.K.
With the spread of COVID-19, Go-Coach accelerated its launch date of its new on-demand public transportation project Go2 by two months in order to address growing transportation needs during the crisis. They quickly adjusted their service plans to limit transportation to essential trips in a first-and-last mile model (addressing gaps in transit networks in the area), adjusting the original service zone to include four nearby hospitals, and temporarily replacing an all fixed-route bus system with on-demand service that both reduced costs and serviced essential rides.
5. Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
In just six days, ITC and United Trans launched an entirely new on-demand microtransit service called the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Link to provide transportation to healthcare professionals. The service covers 37 local hospitals and clinics across 278km 2, offering door-to-door on-demand free rides to and from the local healthcare facilities. The ITC started the service with just 10 vehicles, but after seeing explosive demand within just hours of launching, they increased the size of their fleet by 100% within a few days.
6. Cool – Malta
The Cool on-demand public transportation service covered a small service zone in Malta before COVID-19 started spreading rapidly across the country. In response, Cool leaders started talking to drivers and customers to find out what the community needed most, and how their team could help. As a result, within just two days, Cool expanded its service to the entire island, and adjusted service to provide riders with private rides to properly account for social distancing. In addition, Cool now allows grocery stores and small businesses to deliver goods through the app, pooling multiple deliveries into the same vehicle to increase efficiencies, and providing drivers with the ability to distinguish between deliveries and passenger rides.
7. Ivy League University – Northeast, U.S.
On the northeast coast of the United States, one Ivy League university replaced its existing fixed-route shuttle service for students with an on-demand, extended-hour service providing riders with a safe mobility option for essential needs. In just one day, they were able to reduce their vehicle capacity to 50% to allow for social distancing, making students and university community members feel safer as they travel to essential services.
8. Environment Canterbury – Timaru, New Zealand
In the face of COVID-19, the transit authority in Canterbury, New Zealand accelerated the launch of its MyWay service in Timaru by a month. They quickly thought through current transit needs, and made the decision to limit the new service to transportation for essential services like medical appointments, grocery store runs, and pharmacy pickups. MyWay completely replaced Timaru’s fixed-route bus system, introducing an on-demand service with reduced vehicle capacities to allow for social distancing and public health recommendations.
9. LA Metro – California, U.S.
In Los Angeles, California, LA Metro responded to ever-changing needs due to the coronavirus by expanding its three existing zones to include medical centers, grocery stores and pharmacies. Within one week, the service was providing trips anywhere within the zone (not only to its original first-and-last mile pickup and dropoff points at train stations). It swiftly shifted its service to accommodate social distancing measures by offering exclusively private rides, providing riders with a safe mobility option for essential needs.
10. Ben Franklin Transit — West Pasco, Washington
In Washington State, Ben Franklin Transit partnered with Via to launch an on-demand transit service in West Pasco, starting with support for essential travel needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service was originally scheduled to launch in early April as a first-and-last mile service that would extend access to affordable, efficient, and convenient public transit, and has been rapidly transformed to support residents and essential workers during the health crisis. There are plans to expand the service to cover additional zones by May 11. Under normal operations, the service will serve major bus stops and transit centers. However, during ongoing emergency response in the community, select essential service locations including pharmacies, grocery stores, and health clinics have been added to ensure efficient access to these critical services.
11. Department of For-Hire Vehicles — Washington D.C., U.S.
Via partnered with the Washington, D.C. Department of For-Hire Vehicles (DFHV), and operator Transco, to repurpose D.C. Neighborhood Connect, an existing microtransit service, to provide affordable, on-demand transportation for essential healthcare workers across the D.C. Metro area and parts of suburban Maryland during the COVID-19 crisis. The new service, launched in a matter of days, provides rides to-and-from two major area hospitals during the evening hours — a time of day when public transit is barely operational — at a cost of $3 per ride.
12. Genuine Foods — Washington D.C., U.S.
With schools closed during COVID-19, many students who previously relied on them for their weekday meals are facing food insecurity. As a result, Genuine Foods, a high-volume food service provider in the U.S., started an on-demand emergency meal kit delivery service for Washington D.C. students, using Via’s technology and operational support to deliver meals across the district. The company was able to rapidly pivot from a ‘Grab and Go’ model to a focus on home delivery powered by technology, which enables it to feed even more students in need, and to have the flexibility to react to the ongoing crisis in real time.
13. Keolis — Nancy, France
In less than a week, global transportation operator Keolis took its popular Résago service in France ( iOS and Android) and made some quick decisions to better support healthcare workers in Nancy during the pandemic. Using the app’s pre-booking technology, Keolis was able to easily reduce the number of passengers in each shuttle to accommodate strict physical distancing requirements. Ridership was then limited to pre-approved medical staff, and the service zone was expanded to cover six additional medical centers. Rather than operate during specific hours to support fixed-route public transport, Résago became available 24/7.
14. Keolis — Tours, France
Global transportation operator Keolis took what they did with its Résago service in Nancy and copied the move in Tours with the city’s Fil Blanc app ( iOS and Android). Healthcare workers in Tours can now book a pre-scheduled ride to six medical centers throughout the city, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The technology allows staff to easily share rides to increase efficiency, but automatically limits the number of passengers in each vehicle to comply with sanitary and physical distancing requirements.
15. City of West Sacramento — California, U.S.
When city leaders in West Sacramento recognized their residents needed easier access to the community’s food bank during the pandemic, they took immediate action. In two days, the City of West Sacramento partnered with Yolo Food Bank to deliver packages to people over the age of 65 who have pre-existing health conditions. The city was easily able to assist with deliveries using its West Sacramento On-Demand network. Each week, participating drivers deliver food by following the route in their microtransit app, reaching more than 1,700 people to date.
