First and Last Mile Connections

Optimal transportation infrastructure serves direct routes useful to many citizens. However, such transportation cannot provide single seat door-to-door service to every single rider due to the inevitable long and unpredictable travel times that would result. High capacity vehicles providing such single seat service would need to make many stops and route deviations (explaining why transit agencies have only implemented non-paratransit demand response service in sparsely populated areas), while large fleets of low-capacity vehicles providing such service (such as those app-based ride hailing services have deployed in many large American cities) serve to worsen traffic congestion and make travel more difficult for all. Thus, successful systems must incorporate convenient first- and last-mile options connecting transit hubs to riders' origins and destinations. Such options include:

• Frequent, fast, and reliable trunk transit routes serving all major arterial corridors
• Fixed-route feeder buses operating on schedules coordinated with trunk transit routes
• Shared neighborhood vans with flexible routes
• Ride hailing services based at transit hubs, with transit-integrated fare systems
• Safe pedestrian and bicycle connections to transit stations
• Zoning regulations that allow for development projects fully capturing the economic benefits of trunk transit routes and stations

These options are more successful than the large park-and-ride lots surrounding many transit hubs today. These parking lots require prospective transit riders to incur car ownership expenses and preclude many of the most useful first- and last-mile options from becoming reality.