Evansville’s METS Micro program expands public rideshare fleet after one-year anniversary
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The Metropolitan Evansville Transit System is boosting its METS Micro service following the pilot program’s one year anniversary. In December, the city announced the current fleet of four hybrid Toyota Siennas—including two wheelchair-accessible vehicles—is expanding into 16 EV/hybrid, ADA-accessible vans.
The on-demand public rideshare service launched in November 2023 and completed more than 37,000 rides within the first 12 months. The program is a collaborative effort among METS, Via (transit tech platform), the Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Toyota Mobility Foundation and Indianapolis-based advanced energy nonprofit Energy Systems Network.
“The METS Micro service is helping riders feel more connected to the community overall but also improving access to essential destinations such as employment, education and healthcare,” said Laney Cloud, central U.S. vice president at Via. “The service seems to be a critical link for many Evansville residents.”
About 90% of the micro service ridership comes from low-income households. The program’s success highlights the importance of affordable, accessible and flexible transit options for urban communities like Evansville.
“In this day and age, some students, some people who graduate college, they choose not to purchase a car. They don’t want to drive, and so they use transit as a means to get to and from” said Todd Robertson, executive director for city transportation and services. “We’re finding that a lot of young people are even trying to come into the scenario and utilize this service.”
‘A holistic offering’
Robertson said the idea to provide a new public transit option began a few years ago after a summit focused on issues limiting service in Evansville.
“We had talked about how the METS Mobility [ADA paratransit service] was at capacity and how that was bringing some of the challenges that we have. And then the fixed-route [buses], it is what it is, A and B service at the time before COVID, and the challenges that came with the fixed-route [buses],” he said.
The Toyota Mobility Foundation reached out to the transportation department to discuss how the organization could help improve public transit in the city.
“Evansville is in a unique scenario because we are not a public transportation corporation nor are we a regional authority or any kind of authority. Everything comes from the city’s coffers in competition with your normal police, fire, highway [departments],” said Robertson. “[We were] successful in getting some partnership from our city entities to be able to try to help offset, mitigate some of the costs.”
The foundation presented the micro transit concept to the transportation department and offered a grant to help fund the service. After putting out a request for proposals, the city partnered with Via to put the program in motion.
“The service essentially complements the fixed-route [buses] as well, as riders would not only receive micro transit trips but also see fixed-route [bus] proposals across the entire service zone,” said Cloud. “It’s a holistic offering to help modernize transit in Evansville.”
How the service works
To book an on-demand ride with METS Micro, Evansville riders can download the app in Google Play or the Apple App Store or call 812-562-5011. The service area is displayed on the website.
“It’s an app-based service that matches riders heading in similar directions. You’re typically sharing the ride with others in an effort to optimize the cost and the efficiency of the network overall but also to try to provide a good quality of service to riders,” Cloud said.
The micro transit program—affordable like a bus, convenient like a taxi—operates similarly to other rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft.
“They’ll tell you approximation of the timeframe that they’ll show up, and if the system is overloaded, they’ll let you know that it’s currently unable to fulfill that ride at that particular time. But you can try back in a little bit, and they’ll let you know that so that you’re able to book a ride,” said Robertson.
Popular destinations include Deaconess Gateway Hospital, Costco Wholesale and the University of Evansville. Each ride costs $2, which is payable by credit or debit card.
“We also have the opportunity to where you can come in [to the METS administrative office at 601 John St.] and pay for rides with cash and get ride cards,” Robertson said.
The role of data in expansion
During the METS Micro rollout last November, the program offered free rides to people who completed surveys.
“A lot of feedback that we wanted to capture to find out what the people thought of the new service that we were providing as a pilot. And from there, it just continued to grow each month,” said Robertson.
Via used data to pinpoint the initial service area, the east side, and expanded the ride zone to include downtown Evansville in June.
“We were receiving calls from other areas which showed hotspots of where people who heard about the ride were now trying to become a customer. That gave us some feedback of how the service is doing, how the information is getting out,” Robertson said.
A rider survey indicated 83% of people reported METS Micro having a positive impact on their lives, and 63% can get to places that were inaccessible by fixed-route buses. There are more than 2,000 active riders to date.
“[Via was] very data oriented, which helped us to be able to sell the story to those who are in power, those who are decision makers. What does success look like as we continue to progress throughout this process?” said Robertson.
Setting an example
Cloud views the success of the METS Micro program as a blueprint for other transit innovation across Indiana and the Midwest.
“We’re looking forward to continuing to work with METS and continue to reimagine what transit means in Evansville,” she said.
Robertson estimates the service area reaches about 50% of Evansville’s population and 40% of the city’s jobs.
“We’re trying to continue the effort of expanding and trying to work with our partners to try to create and bring persons to jobs, persons to industry-needed type services or whatever the case may be,” he said.
METS Micro service hours are Monday through Saturday from 6:15 a.m. to 12 a.m. and Sunday from 6:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. Anyone who would like to drive for Via in Evansville can apply online.