How to make Microtransit work. Hint: it's about coverage, not ridership.

Jarrett Walker writes to explain the pragmatic details of microtransit (which the Human Transit author and consultant prefers to call Flexible Transit, as revealed early in the article).
"Flexible transit means any transit service where the route vary [sic] according to who requests it," according to Walker. That means "the common terms demand responsive transit, on-demand transit and 'microtransit' mean the same thing."
So how should communities and transit agencies make flexible transit work as part of a publicly funded transit network? That is, how should transit agencies taxpayers are getting their money's worth when they devote public dollars to flexible transit operations? One of Walker's main assertions might surprise: "flexible transit makes sense only if ridership is not the primary goal of a service."Transit systems balance competing needs of ridership and coverage, according to Walker, and flexible transit is devoted to the latter.
Last year, Walker wrote a series on Microtransit devoted to dispelling notions derived from the novelty of the concept and to cautioning transit agencies from sinking too many resources into the new technologies promising to change the nature of transit.
FULL STORY: What is “Microtransit” For?

New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
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A Serious Critique of Congestion Costs and Induced Vehicle Travel Impacts
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Rethinking the Role of Parking in the American City
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Mapping Sidewalks for Improved Connectivity
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Long Beach Residents Oppose Proposed Homeless Services Hub Near Rail Terminus
L.A. Metro’s “end-of-the-line” policy forces people experiencing homeless off transit every night at the same time and location. A proposed hub would provide services a few stops before the end of the line in Long Beach.

The Nation's Most Advanced Secessionist Movement
Legislation supporting the Greater Idaho Movement, which would annex over half of neighboring Oregon, has advanced in the Idaho legislature.
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City of Greenville
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.