Potential Impacts of Ride-Hailing on the Brockton Area Transit Authority

According to the official data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU), there were 433,835 ride-hailing trips that started in the City of Brockton in 2017, with over 200,000 additional ride- hailing trips originating in the other communities that are part of the BAT service area. [...] Conversations with BAT staff suggest that the decline may be due to the changes in demographics in the area, recent fare increase, the decentralization of medical services, and the increase in home health care throughout the region. [...] Although the study recognizes that the relationship between the level of peak-hour ride-hailing use and longer-term changes in the study region’s public transit usage is unclear, one of the study’s core recommendations is that transit agencies collaborate with ride-hailing companies to enhance and strengthen public transit services. [...] Survey Development and Deployment To create the survey, MAPC reviewed similar survey questions from the following sources: recent surveys of transit riders and ride-hail passengers from across the US28; the questions used in the 2017 MAPC Fare Choices ride-hailing survey; the 2017 rider intercept survey conducted by the MBTA, and; BAT rider surveys used in the 2015 CRTP and in the 2018 BAT Transit. [...] There are several factors likely having an impact on ridership that are beyond the control of BAT, including the historically low price of gasoline, the rise in telecommuting, as well as a shift in the types and locations of jobs in the greater Brockton area and in greater Boston overall.