Philadelphia-area transit agency to pilot late-night on-demand trips
Night-shift workers who rely on public transportation in the Philadelphia region will soon have free on-demand access to public transit through a mobile app designed by Via, the transportation software company announced Wednesday.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority plans to push the service live as a pilot project on May 10 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where residents can use their phones to request pickup along several bus routes. The region is home to many manufacturing businesses and is not very accessible by public transit, SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards said in a press release.
“This on-demand service will help ensure that third-shift workers have safe, reliable and affordable options as they plan for job-related travel,” Richards said. “This pilot program also gives SEPTA an opportunity to evaluate this type of first-and-last mile service for other locations.”
The pilot, called SEPTA Owl Link, is the first phase of a multimodal trip-planning app that Via will develop with SEPTA in the near future, the agency said. Via has recently offered similar solutions in Delaware and Texas and works with more than 200 regional and federal agencies worldwide.
