There is great potential for something like Lyft to fix the rail "first mile" and "last mile" problem. If they can integrate systems with government so that the Lyft cost is part of the rail fare, then it's possible it could be covered by the commuter tax benefit. That would be a big win for everyone, lower cost for commuters, steady income for Lyft, increased ridership for rail.
EDIT: The more I think about it, this is such a good idea I hope Lyft is seriously working on this. With something like Lyft Line, the optimization potential is immense. Assuming each Lyft Line car can have 3 passengers and most workplaces would be within 2-3 miles of a rail station, rides could be very cheap and fast. For example, most coworkers going home would probably share the same Lyft back to the station. The short distance (assuming a 2-3 mile radius) combined with Lyft Line would allow very high throughput during rush hours. If the Lyft cost can benefit from the commuter tax deduction, that's just icing on the cake since the car sharing alone should drop costs by a lot. And there's also networking effect. Coworkers will want to encourage coworkers to do this so they can lower costs for everyone.
Glancing at the map of Centennial, Colorado, tells me that this is way beyond a first/last mile problem. The problem is this exurb is so sparse that there's nothing within a mile of this station. This appears to be the walking path from the nearest residence to the Dry Creek station, and it's a full mile if you make a suicidal dash across a five-lane with a 40MPH speed limit, or 1.2 miles if you follow legally-prescribed sidewalks and crosswalks.
This isn't a "last mile" problem it is a problem with this urban form, which cannot be effectively served by transit. It's hard to believe anyone put a rail station here in the first place. It must have cost a fortune, especially with that multi-story parking structure.
Probably the best thing that could be done with this site is take the rail station as a blessing and level all of those office parks within a mile of the place, building up a walkable transit village instead. You could easily put several thousand residences in that area instead of what appears to be a shitload of surface parking.
The taxi station near my commuter train station did this. When a train arrived the dispatcher would come out and ask everyone who meandered near the taxis where they were going and then pool people into shared cabs. They didn't even ask if you wanted to share or not, they assumed everyone did.
How much would these train + Lyft tickets cost? If you charge a flat rate you risk the someone paying $5 for a $25 commute. What if a taco bell executive gets kicked off the Lyft platform for abusing a driver then buys a trainLyft ticket?
I live in Centennial. Once a week I commute up to Westminster for work. I've been contemplating the light rail + train to get me to within 5.5 miles of my office. However, it looks like this would be about 1.5 - 2 hours vs my 45 minutes (on a bad traffic day) drive in my POV. I'm not sure it'll be worth it. Even with a free trip to the closest station, that's only going to shave about 3/4 of a mile off of my walking/biking trip.
Edit: If anyone lives in the area, I wouldn't mind meeting up. My email is in my profile.
Time is often an underrated element in these discussions, as is the sunk cost of already owning a car if transit can't take you everywhere.
I can get a bus to downtown Pittsburgh a block away from my house, but I'll almost always drive because I can often get downtown in almost half the time (25 minutes vs 45), I can often find free parking, and I can then set my own terms for arrival and departure. Fares are currently $7.50 for a roundtrip, which is over two gallons of gas or a gallon of gas and a cheap parking spot.
Point being, if you already have a car and if you can park cheaply, public transit, as much as I personally like it, becomes a tough value proposition.
> it looks like this would be about 1.5 - 2 hours vs my 45 minutes drive
But that's 1.5 hours of snoozing, reading, working, drinking coffee, having breakfast, whatever else you like, vs 45 minutes having to concentrate on driving.
I used to love my two hourly (total) commute on a train because it was two hours of enforced relaxation time every day. You can return home each evening completely switched off from work.
The light rail is not designed for people in your situation. It's designed to easily get people to and from Denver. Point to point in the 'burbs will remain faster by car for the foreseeable future.
For those not familiar with Denver-area geography, Centennial is a southeastern suburb (as stated in the article) and Westminster a northwestern suburb. These are each serviced by different lines.
Centennial’s dial-a-ride program, provided by RTD, currently costs about $21 per one-way trip, requires advance sign-ups, and averages just a little over four boardings per hour.
Wow, that's scarily inefficient. I'm glad some places are trying alternatives, but I hold out little hope this will happen in California any time soon - the SEIU would shut it down faster than you could say 'competition'.
"Typically, National Medtrans Network calls livery cab companies to book rides. Cancellations, late cars and fraud are big problems. Sometimes it can take as many as six phone calls to complete one booking. A 2005 analysis found that 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical appointments every year because of transportation issues."
For what it's worth, most tech employers in the Denver area offer the "Ecopass" as an employer-paid employee benefit, which makes the buses, light rail, and call-n-ride free for the employee.
Without any discounts, the cost for the call-n-ride is $2.60 to the rider, which is a good deal for a door-to-door service, I think. I am not sure where the article got the $21-- maybe the city is subsidizing most of the cost.
This makes a LOT of sense for the elderly. My grandmother occasionally schedules a pickup from her home in the suburbs, and the system is very lacking. First off, it's based on scheduling a time far in advance. Second, there's no way to get real time updates. Third, the van/bus that picks her up is often EMPTY!
I see a lot of people trying to map the functionality of this onto their non-retired lifestyles, but I think that's missing the point. This will mostly benefit seniors.
Relatedly, I'm hyper impressed by Lyft's partnership-based approach to working with governments. As a transportation person, the work Emily Castor and her crew have done is pretty remarkable. Lyft has been super scrappy in seeking these kinds of mutually beneficial agreements.
Lyft (not Lyft line) is for all practical terms single occupancy driving. There might be two people in the car, but only one of them has a purpose to the trip.
This is a great idea. If it got popular, Lyft line could cut the cost of it, while still being efficient.
And, the best thing, if it does really well then the data can be used to plan new high quality bus routes or even light rail to replace it.
This isn't ever likely to work for suburb to suburb transit (and I don't think there is a model that would) but could definitely work for suburb to downtown style transit.
While this is a new concept for something a government does, this is already a thing that I've seen tech companies in the south bay provide to their employees when they are too small to afford sending busses.
[+] [-] cpprototypes|9 years ago|reply
EDIT: The more I think about it, this is such a good idea I hope Lyft is seriously working on this. With something like Lyft Line, the optimization potential is immense. Assuming each Lyft Line car can have 3 passengers and most workplaces would be within 2-3 miles of a rail station, rides could be very cheap and fast. For example, most coworkers going home would probably share the same Lyft back to the station. The short distance (assuming a 2-3 mile radius) combined with Lyft Line would allow very high throughput during rush hours. If the Lyft cost can benefit from the commuter tax deduction, that's just icing on the cake since the car sharing alone should drop costs by a lot. And there's also networking effect. Coworkers will want to encourage coworkers to do this so they can lower costs for everyone.
[+] [-] honkhonkpants|9 years ago|reply
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/39.5800626,-104.8864011/Dry+...
This isn't a "last mile" problem it is a problem with this urban form, which cannot be effectively served by transit. It's hard to believe anyone put a rail station here in the first place. It must have cost a fortune, especially with that multi-story parking structure.
Probably the best thing that could be done with this site is take the rail station as a blessing and level all of those office parks within a mile of the place, building up a walkable transit village instead. You could easily put several thousand residences in that area instead of what appears to be a shitload of surface parking.
[+] [-] nerfhammer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nathancahill|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wehadfun|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RobotCaleb|9 years ago|reply
Edit: If anyone lives in the area, I wouldn't mind meeting up. My email is in my profile.
[+] [-] Brendinooo|9 years ago|reply
I can get a bus to downtown Pittsburgh a block away from my house, but I'll almost always drive because I can often get downtown in almost half the time (25 minutes vs 45), I can often find free parking, and I can then set my own terms for arrival and departure. Fares are currently $7.50 for a roundtrip, which is over two gallons of gas or a gallon of gas and a cheap parking spot.
Point being, if you already have a car and if you can park cheaply, public transit, as much as I personally like it, becomes a tough value proposition.
[+] [-] chrisseaton|9 years ago|reply
But that's 1.5 hours of snoozing, reading, working, drinking coffee, having breakfast, whatever else you like, vs 45 minutes having to concentrate on driving.
I used to love my two hourly (total) commute on a train because it was two hours of enforced relaxation time every day. You can return home each evening completely switched off from work.
[+] [-] toddsiegel|9 years ago|reply
For those not familiar with Denver-area geography, Centennial is a southeastern suburb (as stated in the article) and Westminster a northwestern suburb. These are each serviced by different lines.
[+] [-] djrogers|9 years ago|reply
Centennial’s dial-a-ride program, provided by RTD, currently costs about $21 per one-way trip, requires advance sign-ups, and averages just a little over four boardings per hour.
Wow, that's scarily inefficient. I'm glad some places are trying alternatives, but I hold out little hope this will happen in California any time soon - the SEIU would shut it down faster than you could say 'competition'.
-- edited for formatting
[+] [-] blackaspen|9 years ago|reply
I've never run into anyone who has _ever_ used it. I saw a Call-N-Ride bus in my neighborhood driving in circles and it was certainly a strange sight.
This sounds like a good plan. But personally, I'd like to see Bike sharing to get to Light Rail (or in my case 36) as an alternative solution too.
[+] [-] bps4484|9 years ago|reply
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/12/technology/lyft-medical-ride...
"Typically, National Medtrans Network calls livery cab companies to book rides. Cancellations, late cars and fraud are big problems. Sometimes it can take as many as six phone calls to complete one booking. A 2005 analysis found that 3.6 million Americans miss or delay medical appointments every year because of transportation issues."
[+] [-] eel|9 years ago|reply
Without any discounts, the cost for the call-n-ride is $2.60 to the rider, which is a good deal for a door-to-door service, I think. I am not sure where the article got the $21-- maybe the city is subsidizing most of the cost.
[+] [-] HillaryBriss|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chejazi|9 years ago|reply
I see a lot of people trying to map the functionality of this onto their non-retired lifestyles, but I think that's missing the point. This will mostly benefit seniors.
[+] [-] peatmoss|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pboutros|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andys627|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matthewowen|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] martinald|9 years ago|reply
And, the best thing, if it does really well then the data can be used to plan new high quality bus routes or even light rail to replace it.
This isn't ever likely to work for suburb to suburb transit (and I don't think there is a model that would) but could definitely work for suburb to downtown style transit.
[+] [-] zjaffee|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] r0m4n0|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hrez|9 years ago|reply