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VIA Metro Connect pilot shows ridership growth; seniors urged clearer door‑to‑door booking
Summary
VIA Metro Connect told the South Miami City Commission it has completed roughly 2,700 rides since late February and is seeing rising productivity and improved ETA performance; commissioners and residents pressed VIA on ensuring seniors are reliably assigned door‑to‑door service when they phone in bookings.
VIA Metro Connect representatives presented an initial three‑month performance report to the City of South Miami on June 17, saying the microtransit pilot has completed about 2,700 rides since late February and is trending toward higher productivity and lower per‑ride costs.
The presenter, Juliana DeQuest, told commissioners the city’s dedicated Metro Connect supply has completed about 1,386 rides and that, when combined with county Metro Connect service, the South Miami zone has seen roughly 2,600 rides total. DeQuest said productivity rose from about 2 rides per vehicle to roughly 3.7, and that the program is targeting an average of 450 rides per month and a productivity of 3.8 as it matures. She said the program is tracking toward a long‑run cost per ride near $15, comparable to countywide Metro Connect service.
“These early metrics are encouraging,” DeQuest said, noting ETA performance as a key customer‑facing metric: about 73% of trips had ETAs under 25 minutes and more than 50% were under 15 minutes. She added that roughly 41% of rides are shared trips, which improves productivity and reduces cost per passenger.
Commissioners and residents focused on accessibility for older riders. A resident who works with the senior center said seniors have reported being asked to walk to a curb despite having profiles that should trigger door‑to‑door pickup. DeQuest responded that South Miami’s municipal supply is operated as door‑to‑door, while some county Metro Connect trips are curb‑to‑curb. She said staff have been visiting senior centers to register riders and update customer profiles so phone reservations will reflect door‑to‑door service.
“We’ve been registering people at the senior center and changing their profiles so that when they call the customer center they are automatically assigned door‑to‑door, even if the ride is processed through county supply,” DeQuest said. She asked staff to investigate specific cases where a senior was required to walk and to follow up.
Mayor Fernandez and other commissioners pressed VIA on peak‑period service and headways, noting current variation in wait times across the day. VIA staff said algorithm refinement, targeted supply shifts (e.g., more vehicles during 3–4 p.m. peaks) and marketing to attract new riders could improve headways and attract “choice” riders, although adding supply can create additional demand that affects matching.
The commission did not take any immediate policy votes on the microtransit pilot; staff said they would continue to monitor performance metrics, senior outreach and options such as integrating the service with third‑party platforms (e.g., Uber) if program parameters warrant.
The next operational steps the presenters cited were deeper analysis of trip distribution by time of day, continued senior center registrations to preserve door‑to‑door service, and further marketing aimed at drawing nontraditional riders into downtown South Miami.
