SEPTA, RideCo Launch Revamped Paratransit System

RideCo and Philadelphia’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) partnered to successfully launch phase one of SEPTA OnDemand — the new modernized paratransit service — within an unprecedented 4.5 month timeframe.

The largest on-demand transit system in the U.S. running on a cloud-based platform is now operating in four of six counties and will launch across the entire service region in the coming weeks.

After only a few weeks of operation, SEPTA is already experiencing a profound impact.

‍“As we profiled in our vision statement, we are taking definitive steps to continually enhance mobility for the residents of Philadelphia,” said SEPTA CEO/GM Leslie S. Richards. “SEPTA’s partnership with RideCo and the adoption of their software is turning that vision into reality, transforming our paratransit system in record time, delivering a better experience for riders, and enabling us to achieve new milestones at a lower cost.”

‍The RideCo/SEPTA Partnership

SEPTA operates an extensive paratransit fleet of 411 vehicles along with plans to add a 48-vehicle microtransit fleet later in the year.

In September 2023, SEPTA contracted with RideCo to power these on-demand transit services with the goal of improving rider experience while achieving greater operational and cost efficiency.

‍The aggressive timeline to transform a large-scale paratransit system is an industry first, with SEPTA wanting to move quickly on the initiative to improve operations. Working alongside RideCo, the collective team delivered a successful implementation in 4.5 short months.

Project features include:

• The rollout of a fully integrated eligibility platform to simplify the certification process for riders.
• An integration with the SEPTA Key faring solution to address challenges in the previous fare collection process.
• The implementation of an enhanced driver communication system hosted within RideCo’s one-tablet solution.

RideCo’s Expertise

The service will benefit from RideCo’s advanced reservation and dispatching capabilities to reduce the need for manual adjustments and ensure everything runs on time.

Now with RideCo’s dynamic software, SEPTA also has the opportunity to commingle their paratransit and microtransit services and leverage the combined fleets to offer extensive flexibility to riders and achieve even greater cost efficiency.