But the success of ride-hailing apps is starting to change that equation. A handful of cities are testing out partnerships with these companies as a way to complement or replace older stop-gap solutions. Kansas City has gone all in on “micro-transit” buses in a partnership with Bridg. In Florida, Pinellas County has been piloting a Uber-based program that serves low-income transit riders traveling at late-night and early-morning hours, while Altamonte Springs has been picking up 25 percent of the tab for Uber rides to and from commuter rail stations.
Now, a community in Colorado is set to experiment with maybe the most tech-savvy version of this model yet. Beginning August 17, citizens within a service area will be able to summon free Lyft rides to and from the Dry Creek light-rail station that serves the city of Centennial, which sits southeast of Denver. Riders will have the option of putting in their request on the Lyft app or on Go Denver, a mobile platform developed by Xerox that integrates scheduling and payment information for transit and ride-hailing services around the metro area.