USA: North Carolina Department of Transportation and technology company TransLoc have launched a three-month pilot of a door-to-door journey planning app which highlights options to use Uber and local public transport services to access nine stations on Amtrak’s Piedmont and Carolinian routes.
Users enter their preferred station into the Rider app, which then calculates a route that integrates walking, bus services and Uber with the rail timetable. Riders can also use the app to find transport options from their destination. Over time, the app will learn user preferences around cost, convenience and mode.
‘This is an innovative step for a transit agency as large as NCDOT and reinforces its leadership in working to solve the chronic first-mile, last-mile problem that has historically restricted public transit ridership’, said TransLoc CEO Doug Kaufman,
‘Our partnership with TransLoc is helping us create a large network of interconnected public transit options’, said Paul Worley, Rail Division Director at NCDOT. ‘By tying together services that residents use and depend on already, it's now easier than ever for North Carolinians to travel across the state without driving their cars while taking advantage of existing rail infrastructure.’
