Microtransit in Los Angeles

Joshua Schank, former chief innovation officer for Metro and Managing Principal at InfraStrategies, was quoted in today's Los Angeles Times article on microtransit.

“There should be a public alternative to Uber and Lyft that is sustainable and more affordable than Uber and Lyft,” he said. The micro transit program started in his office.

Schank lives in the San Fernando Valley, where a four-mile bus trip can easily turn into an hour-long journey.

“If I want to take transit somewhere, I gotta wait 20 minutes for a bus to show up and then transfer to another post, where I gotta wait another 30 minutes,” he said. “I could have done that in 10 minutes by car and it’s gonna take me an hour. To me, that seems unacceptable.”

Though the program was costly, he thought “it was worth it if it’s going to improve people’s lives dramatically.”

“The concern should be, are we using taxpayer money efficiently to provide necessary service to people who need it, and I would argue micro transit is a great way of doing that,” he said.

Read the full article here.