GO ITHACA solves rural transportation woes
Case Studies
What’s the situation?
Ithaca, New York, is a small city in Upstate New York, home to Cornell University and Ithaca College. The city itself only has 30,000 residents, but 100,000 commute in every day. Ithaca has two universities, a hospital, several large manufacturing industries, and more. The central employment hub of Tompkins County, those who reside outside of the city limits likely need to travel in for jobs, healthcare, and other essential services.
What’s the Problem?
While the City of Ithaca is reasonably well serviced by public transportation including a bus system, bikeshare, and carshare, those who live outside the city center struggle to access these modes of transportation in a way that is convenient for them. Many people who are either low-income or disabled often struggle the most.
As the most expensive small city in the country, the cost of housing has driven people to move further away from the city center, where living is more affordable. Unfortunately, these places are less connected to the city’s transportation services, some being miles from the closest bus stop. These individuals must then rely on cars to get where they need to go.
How the Roam™ app applies
The Roam™ app has the potential to revolutionize rural ridership. Now, riders will have a way to connect to each other, including people who share their interests. While building connections, residents will also have an easy and affordable way to get where they need to go.
Solutions we have tried
Local officials and community leaders in transportation in Tompkins County have been working on solutions for several years to increase transportation connectivity for rural residents. Unfortunately, there just are not good options at this time that solve the problem. Some of the potential solutions have been:
Incentivize work from home schemes: While Unfortunately, a lot of the residents in the rural communities have jobs can’t be done from home.
Carpool matching: The state-created carpool matching platform is difficult to use and not customizable. Riders express concerns about riding with stranger, especially post-pandemic.
Incentivize park and ride: The transit system offers park and ride spots, but these are under-used due to untimely and unreliable bus schedules.
Vanpool: Organizing vanpools for rural residents has been difficult, as employers do not want to pay for the programs in addition to free parking.
On-demand shuttles: Shuttles to bring rural residents to the nearest transit stop have been tried but were ceased due to the cost of operations and underutilization.