Since 2013, the city of Arlington’s mass transit system was a single bus route that was used mainly by students at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Earlier this month, the Arlington City Council voted to end the route, and replace it with the ridesharing service Via beginning Dec. 11.
D Magazine said Arlington will become the first U.S. city to convert its entire mass transit operation into so-called micro transit.
Arlington long has fought the distinction of being the largest U.S. city — a population of roughly 393,000 — without a public mass transit system. The Metro Arlington Express single bus route system was supposed to change that, but it never drew many riders.
The city hopes its subsidized one-year pilot project with Via will have better results.
Via riders will pay a $3 flat rate and will need to use the Via app to summon a shuttle.
Via will operate up to 10 vans with room for six passengers each that run from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week, D Magazine reported.
To summon the shared-ride shuttle, riders will need to use the Via app and pay a $3 flat rate for each trip within the service area — the TRE rail station near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, downtown Arlington, Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, and entertainment options in the east-central area of Arlington.
Later, the service area will expand to include the Parks Mall and the University of Texas at Arlington.
VIA BE LONE MASS TRANSIT OPTION
It’s a bet the city is making that residents will prefer this to buses and trains, and that they will chose Via over Lyft or Uber.
For now, Via would be Arlington’s only mass transit option.
Earlier this year, however, an outfit called the Alliance for Transportation Innovation showed off a self-driving electric trolley system in the city.
Called EasyMile, the shuttle has a top speed of 25 miles per hour. The Alliance has been traveling the country showing off the $250,000, six-seat vehicles that are supposed to have a capacity of 12 people.
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R E A D N E X T
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The City of Arlington has partnered with Via, May Mobility, and UT Arlington to launch the RAPID pilot program, the first autonomous driving shuttle initiative to integrate with an existing public transportation service.
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The Arlington Assembly plant has 5,677 employees and has produced more than 12 million vehicles since it opened in 1954. The new investment follows a $1.4 billion, 1.6 million-square-foot expansion at the plant that began in 2015.
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Now trading under "WBX," the Barcelona-based EV charging manufacturer closed its merger with N.Y.-based SPAC Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. on October 1. Arlington leaders recently granted Wallbox incentives to build the company’s first North American plant in the Great Southwest Industrial District.
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Dodson Commercial Real Estate is building five new mixed-use buildings along Front Street to house restaurants, retail, and apartments. The expansion will result in a five-city-block attraction for downtown Arlington. The city's largest public accounting firm, Sutton Frost Cary LLP, will be relocating to a 21,000-SF office building that's part of the project.
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Established by an anonymous alumnus to encourage UT Arlington students to explore their business ideas, the Maverick Entrepreneur Program and Award Fund is one of the few student-focused entrepreneurship programs in the country that awards these levels of cash funding to assist emerging startups.
