Mobility Management in Urban Transit Systems

By guest blogger, Marlene Connor, chair, APTA Mobility Management Committee

Transit systems large (San Francisco Municipal Transportation agency, Denver Regional Transportation District, PACE, San Mateo County Transit District) and small (Monterey-Salinas Transit, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit) are advancing the concept and strategy of mobility management. These systems are creating partnerships with public and private transportation providers at the community and regional scale in order to enhance travel options for their communities.

The general objective of mobility management implementation is to identify and introduce nontraditional modal choices and to develop the means to communicate those options to the public through traditional and state of the art channels, including increased use of social media , travel training, and technology. Among its benefits, mobility management complements fixed-route public transit service, moving large number of people while meeting the unique needs of each community and region. Mobility management strategies aim to coordinate the array of multimodal options and customer choices in a region, including bikeshare, car share, taxi, paratransit and other first and last mile alternatives.

APTA's Mobility Management Committee is among the leaders this movement, and its business plan has several key goals which align with the mission of the National Center for Mobility Management.  These include

1. Promoting and supporting the practices of interagency collaboration and coordination;
2. Providing leadership in obtaining sustainable mobility management polices and funding; and
3. Strengthening the deployment of mobility management through evaluation and best practices.

We want to hear about your system approach to mobility management. Tell us about some of the strategies that you deploy to ensure your system can offer a customer-focused, complete trip. Reach out to our Mobility Management Committee leadership to be a part of this ongoing discussion and movement.