SEPTA looking at cooperation with ride sharing

The new kids in transportation, ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft, are sitting down with old-guard transit agencies like SEPTA to find partnerships that could benefit both.

SEPTA and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation think these companies could give travelers easier access to public transportation. They also want to learn from the app-based business model that has made ride sharing so popular. New evidence suggests the ride-sharing business and public transit could complement each other.

SEPTA general manager Jeff Knueppel said the agency has been in contact with one ride-share company (he declined to name it) and on Wednesday began a study on how a partnership with ride-sharing companies would affect services.

"I think it's exciting," he said. "The taxpayer and the person who lives in the region just wants an efficient transportation network."

He said ride sharing could be useful in suburban communities, where encouraging travelers to take a ride-share vehicle to stations rather than driving, for example, could reduce demand for limited parking.

Two New Jersey municipalities, Evesham and Voorhees, began to combat drunk driving in October by covering the costs of an Uber ride for anyone traveling from a bar or restaurant to a destination in the communities between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Leslie S. Richards said Wednesday she would meet with staff from Uber and Lyft within the month about sharing technology and the possibility of contracting with ride-sharing companies to supplement lightly used bus routes.

Ride sharing could serve riders in the "first and last mile," the distance between a traveler's home and a public transportation stop. The distance between the two can deter people from using public transportation, but ride sharing has the potential to bridge it.

"It's giving a flexibility that people have never had before," Richards said.

An American Public Transportation Association study on how people use modes of travel in seven major American cities found ride-sharing complements, rather than competes with, public transit. The study found 21 percent of respondents had used ride sharing to commute.

It also found ride sharing was least frequently used in the morning and was the most popular mode of travel from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., when much public transportation shuts down. Uber's data show people are using the service to travel to public transportation centers, said David Plouffe, Uber's chief adviser and a member of its board, during a conference call Tuesday.

"We fill an important niche," he said. "No matter where you are, no matter what time that last train is, you're going to get home."

Among the study's recommendations are that transit agencies and ride-sharing companies should synchronize services and share technology, make it easier for passengers to find out how different modes can complement each other, explore subsidized ride-share fares, and share data. "I think they are going to change how we're going to look at transportation in many ways," Richards said.

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