METRO’s free, on-demand electric shuttle service has expanded to Houston’s Near Northside neighborhood, with service there launching Monday.
The “Community Connector” initiative launched as a pilot program in the Third Ward in 2023. It has since expanded to the Second Ward and the Heights along with the downtown area.
The micro-transit service allows residents to request short-distance rides in low-speed electric vehicles by using an app on their phones to get to places such as grocery stores, doctor’s appointments and other public transit options.
Chelsey Trahan, a spokesperson for METRO, said it has 18 vehicles across all service zones with the goal in mind to improve quality of life and provide greater access to resources.
“We’re trying to connect our community,” Trahan said. “We understand that the city is growing rapidly. We have to find innovative ways to grow, and this has been a way to help people to not only get to our services but to travel throughout the community.”
Since the service launched, the Community Connector program has had more than 36,000 riders, according to METRO. The electric shuttles operate from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Users can request rides through the Ride Circuit app.
METRO, the Houston region’s public transit provider, said it’s investing $10 million in micro-transit options for the 2025 fiscal year. The Community Connector program is a partnership with nonprofit Evolve Houston to provide a way for people to get around their communities and connect with other transit services.
That story is from June 23, I was travelling when it came out and meant to circle back to it sooner, and now here we are. You know how I feel about all this. I don’t know how much of that $10 million (!) we are spending on this micro-initiative, but the original allocation made to Evolve a year ago was $216K, so we sure have ramped it up. And all for 36,000 riders – not sure if we’re measuring that from the date of the $216K grant to Evolve or to a year before that when the Third Ward pilot started, but either way it’s a laughably small number when compared to Metro bus routes. How many of those 36K people are using this to actually get to Metro services? We don’t know, they don’t say. The “micro” in “microtransit”, that does say a lot.
Charles, comparing micro-transit volume and cost to metro bus volume and cost? Careful. The same analysis could be performed for the hundreds of millions spent on bicycle paths and the billions spent on Metro rail.
I’ve used the micro-transit in the downtown area when it first launched and it was very quick and convenient. So much so that now more people are using it, with longer wait times for the vehicle to arrive and many more stops. Of course, a free ride is always going to be popular.
What’s the actual name of the app ?
https://www.ridemetro.org/riding-metro/transit-services/community-connector