It’s a conundrum that has befuddled transit officials for years: Once you get your train and bus service up and running, how do you get prospective riders from their homes and offices to the nearest transit stop?
Known in the industry as the “first mile-last mile” quagmire, it’s the unfilled gap that threatens to keep transit systems throughout the country from realizing their full potential. Centennial this week will launch a bold new initiative to tackle the issue — teaming up with ride-hailing service Lyft to offer free rides to and from the Dry Creek light rail station.
The suburb of 107,000 touts the program, which it will run as a six-month pilot, as a first-of-its-kind in the nation. The City Council approved resolutions Monday night to put the program into effect, and the city plans a formal launch at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“It’s the only program in the nation that is going to have this (proprietary) app and fully subsidized ride-share,” said Allison Wittern, spokeswoman for Centennial. “We want to see if we can have success with it and expand it.”
Details are being kept under wraps until the Wednesday launch, but Wittern said there will be an app that users will be able to download that will allow them to order a Lyft ride to and from the Dry Creek station and schedule their ride on the Regional Transportation District’s E-Line or F-Line train. She stressed that the service will be limited to those who live and work in the current RTD Call-n-Ride service area, a section of Centennial west of Interstate 25 between Arapahoe and County Line roads.
She called it a “small test area,” although the city is expecting to get up to 280 boardings daily. The service will run from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The cost to run the pilot program is $400,000, with Centennial putting in $200,000 and the Southeast Public Improvement Metropolitan District putting in the other half.
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said the program is a good one, especially considering the challenge his agency faces servicing Centennial, a sprawling suburban city designed for automobile travel.
“Putting a traditional bus route through these areas of low density is very unproductive,” Reed said. “Anytime there is a barrier eliminated to people taking public transportation, that’s an exciting step forward.”
And the Centennial-Lyft program should bring relief to the Dry Creek station, which has 235 parking spaces and operates at around 80 percent capacity, Reed said.
While a novel concept in Colorado, Centennial’s partnership with Lyft is not treading altogether new ground. Uber, Lyft’s rival in the ride-hailing space, is partnering with cities and transit agencies across the United States.
Altamonte Springs, Fla., subsidizes 20 percent of the cost of every Uber trip beginning and ending within city limits, with further discounts for those accessing the SunRail station. Meanwhile, Uber has linked up with Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority in Florida, which has agreed to pay half the cost of any trip costing up to $6.
The company is also in a pilot program with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, through which riders receive 40 percent off Uber rides that begin or end at certain regional rail stations. After the University of Colorado A-Line opened for business in April, Uber provided discounted rides to and from A-Line stations for a week.
Lyft declined to comment for this story, saying it would have more to say at the launch of its partnership with Centennial this week.
Sharon Feigon, executive director of the Shared Use Mobility Center in Chicago, praised Centennial’s leadership in finding new ways to steer people to rail. At the same time, she acknowledged Denver is not Chicago or New York, where critical masses of populations make public transit a natural fit. Many of RTD’s more far-flung, suburban rail stations in its system, where density is not yet a reality, pose a challenge for transit advocates.
And addressing the first mile-last mile problem in Centennial doesn’t solve it anywhere else. But Feigon said efforts have to start somewhere.
“You want to provide as many options as possible to get things connected,” she said. “Being able to extend the reach can make the difference between a successful transit stop and one not well utilized.”
