Alicia Walker (General Manager of Bus Operations at Trinity Metro in Fort Worth, Texas) spoke at the 2024 Central U.S. Transit Summit in Chicago. She shared how her agency united three disjointed demand-response services to create more accessible service and stronger connections between modes. Within five years after launch, the microtransit service has become one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most efficient microtransit services, measured by cost per ride and vehicle utilization.
Spotlight on: Alicia Walker, General Manager of Operations from Trinity Metro, the transit agency serving the city of Fort Worth, Texas and its suburbs. A 20-year transit veteran, her professional journey began as an analyst in LA Metro's Transportation Administration Department. She then held leadership roles as Assistant Manager and Advanced Transportation Manager, overseeing several bus operation divisions.
She advanced her career further as both Assistant Vice President and Interim Vice President of bus operations for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) in Texas. Currently, she's general manager of bus operations for Trinity Metro in Fort Worth, Texas. Alicia is passionate about new technologies, innovative ideas, concepts that provide solutions to transportation problems and making a positive impact in communities she serves.
“Via's integrated transit functionality will allow our riders to effortlessly travel across their communities, offering three advantages: availability, optionality, and simplicity.” — Alicia Walker, Trinity Metro
Great transit minds unite at the Central U.S. Transit Summit
Alicia Walker spoke at the 2024 Central U.S. Transit Summit in Chicago, sharing how the Trinity Metro team developed a transit system that leverages unified software and operations for both microtransit and paratransit, aiming to reduce operating cost, enhance efficiency, and raise overall service quality.
In 2019, Trinity Metro partnered with Via to launch ZIPZONE, a multi-zone microtransit service, in Fort Worth, Texas. Originally designed to increase first- and last-mile connectivity, the service performed so well that the planners decided to leverage Via's technology and operation experience to expand its scope. Now, four years later, Trinity Metro is taking a bold step to bring together three previously separate demand-responsive services — the ACCESS ADA paratransit program, ZIPZONE, and rideshare voucher program — under one cohesive system.
This expanded partnership has led to a service rebrand as Trinity Metro On-Demand, with a new, streamlined experience for both riders and Trinity Metro staff. Microtransit riders can now book a ride in one consolidated app, rather than juggling between different platforms, while schedulers can easily manage all trip requests in one software platform.
To make transit even more accessible and equitable for riders with unique travel needs, Trinity Metro plans to launch same-day trips for ADA paratransit riders in 2025. The first step is implementing commingling, scheduled for early next year. "Our ADA paratransit riders have to adjust their lives around our service, but soon, we will give them the flexibility where our service adjusts to their lives," said Walker. "This will make things much more effective for them." By first establishing commingled services, Trinity Metro aims to increase capacity with microtransit handling same-day rides initially. This will free up capacity for ADA paratransit, setting the stage for same-day service later in the year.
Quick takeaways from Alicia Walker at the Transit Summit:
- Unifying demand-responsive transit onto one tech platform can be a key to achieving a highly efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality network.
- Via's integrated transit functionality will allow riders to effortlessly travel across their communities, offering three advantages: availability, optionality, and simplicity.
- Commingling paratransit with microtransit should happen on the timeline that works for you: with thoughtful service design and the right partner, it can be accomplished in just a few months.
Alicia Walker: full Transit Summit speech
It's my pleasure to be here today to talk about our journey in transforming our service network in Trinity Metro to better meet all of our customers' needs.
We're in Fort Worth, Texas, and we provide fixed-route service, TEXRail, Trinity Metro On Demand, ACCESS services (which is our paratransit service), vanpool, bike share. We service about 410 square miles in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and we're the third fastest-growing city in the nation.
What we wanted to do was create a one-stop shop in our transit network. We are looking to advance our operation by integrating both ADA paratransit and microtransit services, reducing operating costs, increasing passenger efficiency, and improving the quality of service. We especially wanted to improve our paratransit service, making it more accessible. But paratransit is very expensive — it's the most expensive service there is. However, it is very necessary, and we are committed to always providing it. We were focused on improving the quality of service for everyone.
One of our goals was to ensure that we had name recognition for our customers. In June 2019, Mobility on Demand was a pilot. We contracted with Via, our wonderful partners. The initial intent of the ZipZone program was to be a first-mile, last-mile solution, in conjunction with our fixed-route bus and rail systems. Our ADA service is door-to-door transportation for our elderly and disabled populations throughout Fort Worth.
We moved to rebranding both services as a combined offering, and we are now Trinity Metro On Demand... We really wanted to find transportation network efficiencies, and we found that Via's platform was the strongest option.
Here are a couple of stats: it's the nation's fastest-growing and most efficient microtransit service, with a 4.9 out of 5 rider satisfaction rate. You can see year-to-year ridership has increased exponentially, and our cost per ride is $16.29, so there's cost savings there. We wanted to move into a multi-phased approach.
Our Phase One goal was to maintain excellence with our service and provide operational excellence. Phase Two involved transitioning our ACCESS (ADA paratransit) service, with a focus on improving the rider experience by utilizing and adopting the Via app for that service. Phase Three is a staged rollout of our commingled services, which will increase incrementally on a quarterly basis.
Via's integrated transit functionality will allow our riders to effortlessly travel across their communities, offering three advantages: availability, optionality, and simplicity. What we want is to expand our network to provide customers with more choices, and we want it to be easy for them.
We have hit a couple of milestones: on June 3, on our path to commingling, we continued with existing zones in South Tarrant, South Side Mercantile, and the Southeast Zone, which is now operated by Via. It used to be through our internal operations, but we felt it would be more efficient to work with Via, and it's working out really well. The thing I’m most excited about, as an operations person, is that we're still running buses — we will never stop running buses hopefully. In October, we will launch our paratransit service through Via.
Our long-term vision is to provide a more efficient way to deliver service, not only through the on-demand first-mile, last-mile connections, but also by integrating paratransit customers into the same comfortable ride experience. We want to offer same-day service for our ADA paratransit customers, something they don’t have now. Right now, our ADA paratransit riders have to adjust their lives around our service, but soon, we will give them the flexibility where our service adjusts to their lives. This will make things much more effective for them.
We want to provide our paratransit passengers with better service, equal to or as good as any other customer. That’s what makes it equitable. At the same time, we are always looking at cost-effectiveness. We are mindful of finding ways to save money, but not at the expense of our customers or employees. It’s really all about fairness, accessibility, and equity in transit. That's what we're striving for as we move forward.
What's next?
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