Author: Laura Hanna

The City of Mansfield and Trinity Metro will welcome the start of the Trinity Metro On-Demand Mansfield rideshare service with a ceremony.

The festivities will take place at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, July 15, at Mansfield City Hall, 1200 E. Broad St. The event will include visuals including comments from city and Trinity Metro officials and residents, plus a first drive through a ceremonial ribbon.

One of the speakers will be resident Rachel Grossman. She has organized a local effort to provide funding so two brothers with special needs can continue to get to and from their jobs at neighboring grocery stores. The brothers have become fixtures at these stores over the decades.

For a long time their mother drove them to work but once she was unable to drive regularly, Rachel and other community members volunteered. They have been asking for a service like Trinity Metro On-Demand to help the brothers be even more independent and continue to work the jobs they love.

Trinity Metro On-Demand is Trinity Metro’s expansion of its on-demand ridesharing service, which also operates in the cities of Crowley and Everman in addition to Fort Worth. With this latest expansion, riders can order a ride anywhere within Mansfield city limits for only $3 a ride with discounts for seniors and veterans. The trial service will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday. To give everyone a chance to try the service, rides will be free through Sept. 14.

Mansfield City Council is rolling out the service on a 6-month trial period to gauge ridership and community interest.

Trinity Metro’s popular on-demand rideshare service hit two major milestones in May – a record-breaking cumulative tally of more than half a million and a record-high month. Total ridership since ZIPZONE services began reached nearly 504,677 in May. Additionally, Trinity Metro’s on-demand rideshare option provided 31,090 rides in May.

“Riders enjoy the convenience and cost savings of choosing ZIPZONE,” said Ralph Zaragoza, emerging mobility manager. “We have created a network that offers flexibility, reliability and affordability.”

Riders pay only $3 per ride or purchase a $5 one-day ticket, which includes Trinity Metro buses, TEXRail, on-demand services, and Trinity Railway Express within Tarrant County. ZIPZONE began operating in 2019 and has continued to grow and expand its boundaries over the years. The on-demand network includes zones in Alliance, Mercantile, Southeast, Southside and South Tarrant.

Coming soon

Trinity Metro On-Demand Mansfield will begin operations on July 15 and the existing Alliance ZIPZONE will become Trinity Metro On-Demand Alliance. Both services will be served by Via.

(FORT WORTH, TEXAS) June 11, 2024 — Trinity Metro is proud to announce a significant advancement of its investment in technology and innovation to create a more agile and accessible future of public transportation in Tarrant County. In the midst of booming population growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area¹, investment in public transit is more important than ever and represents a visionary approach to accessibility, managing congestion, and ensuring residents and visitors have an affordable option to get where they need to go. 

Through an expanded partnership with TransitTech provider Via, which has powered the successful ZIPZONE on-demand rideshare transit service since 2019, Trinity Metro will embark on a path to deploy intuitive technology and efficient operations across its entire transit network.

The refreshed transit program includes broadened and improved on-demand and paratransit services, which will increase transit access for more people in Tarrant County than ever before. The agency will also become one of the first in the nation to merge on-demand rideshare services and paratransit operations, an innovative solution designed to maximize service efficiency and improve experience for all riders while minimizing overhead costs.

On-demand transit works by matching riders headed in the same direction into one vehicle, which creates efficient shared trips. The flexible model uses “virtual bus stops” based on the rider’s pickup and dropoff location instead of traditional physical stops and predetermined routes. The expanded on-demand service will provide easy connectivity to Trinity Metro’s existing bus lines.

Trinity Metro is planning a phased roll-out of improvements over coming months. Key upcoming milestones include:

• July: Introduction of new zone: Trinity Metro On-Demand Mansfield. Via will also assume operations for the Alliance zone (previously operated by Lyft) to provide shared rides that can easily connect with the broader Trinity Metro network.
• September: Launch of new zones in Fort Worth’s North Side and near Tarrant County College Northeast Campus, expanded coverage in the Southside zone (Sycamore Heights).
• October: Enhancements to the Trinity Metro paratransit program.

“Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the fastest-growing metros in the nation, and Via is thrilled to deepen our partnership with Trinity Metro. Together, we’ll ensure Tarrant County’s public transit network remains resilient and flexible through the use of world-class technology and operations,” said Alex Lavoie, Co-Chief Operating Officer at Via.

“Trinity Metro’s decision to take transit innovation to the next level underscores our dedication to meeting the evolving needs of our community, with the goal of public transit becoming the preferred mode of travel for Tarrant County residents and visitors for years to come,” said Wayne Gensler, chief operations officer at Trinity Metro.

Both Via and Trinity Metro are dedicated to maintaining open communication and engagement with the Tarrant County community. This collaborative approach is aimed at ensuring a smooth transition for riders, with a focus on transparency and responsiveness to feedback.

This announcement follows more than five years of successful collaboration between Trinity Metro and Via for the ZIPZONE on-demand rideshare program, one of the first public-private partnerships to use TransitTech and an on-demand model to expand transportation access.

For more information, please visit: https://ridetrinitymetro.org/

About Via

Founded in 2012, Via pioneered the TransitTech category by using new technologies to develop public mobility systems — optimizing networks of buses, shuttles, wheelchair-accessible vehicles, school buses, autonomous vehicles, and electric vehicles around the globe. Building the world’s most efficient, equitable, and sustainable transportation network for all passengers — including those with limited mobility, those without smartphones and unbanked populations — Via works with its partners to lower the costs of public transit while providing transportation options that rival the convenience of a personal car while reducing environmental impact. At the intersection of transportation and technology, Via is a visionary market leader that combines software innovation with sophisticated service design and operational expertise to fundamentally improve the way the world moves, providing technology in 700 communities and more than 35 countries and counting.

About Trinity Metro

Trinity Metro is a regional transportation system that provides public transportation to meet the mobility needs in Tarrant County. The agency offers connections throughout the North Central Texas region, providing passenger trips on buses, TEXRail, ACCESS paratransit, ZIPZONE on-demand rideshare services, Fort Worth Bike Sharing, vanpools and Trinity Railway Express. TRE, a 34-mile commuter rail line jointly owned and operated by Trinity Metro and DART, operates between Fort Worth and Dallas. Trinity Metro is the sole owner and operator of TEXRail, a 27-mile commuter rail line that runs between downtown Fort Worth and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s Terminal B.

Alexandria, VA, June 10, 2024 – The Commuter Rail Coalition membership has elected prominent industry executives Richard Andreski, President and CEO at Trinity Metro, and  Sally Librera, Americas Transit and Passenger Rail Leader and Senior VP at AECOM, to the association’s Board of Directors. Their election highlights the Coalition’s commitment to strengthening its leadership with experienced professionals from key rail organizations.

Andreski leads CRC member agency Trinity Metro, an owner and operator of two passenger rail lines, and a host railroad for Amtrak. He has extensive commuter rail experience with NJ Transit, Connecticut Department of Transportation, and Trinity Metro. During his tenure at CT DOT, Andreski served as the State’s representative to the Northeast Corridor Commission, which included negotiating operating and capital cost-sharing agreements between Amtrak and other Northeast states pursuant to the Passenger Rail Investment & Improvement Act of 2008.

Librera brings the complementary perspectives of both the public and private sector. Throughout her career, she has worked across public agency roles at the NY MTA, running the NYC subway system and MTA Staten Island Railway. From leading safety teams, contract and procurement negotiations, and emergency response, to directing maintenance operations, engineering divisions and operating personnel, Librera guided her team to dramatic performance improvements.

In welcoming the new members to the Board, CRC Chairman Mike Noland (South Shore Line) said, “Metra’s Jim Derwinski and his nominating committee did a tremendous job of identifying candidates whose caliber of expertise will help further strengthen the CRC. We expect Richard Andreski and Sally Librera to bring valuable insights and expertise to the board, and aid in advancing commuter rail initiatives across the industry.”

“The CRC is a respected leadership and advocacy organization for the commuter rail industry. I can see the difference CRC is making at a national policy level through its frequent visits to the Hill and robust engagement with top rail leaders. CRC has brought clarity and focus to the issues that matter most.,” said Andreski.”

“I have been impressed by the calibre and detail of the CRC activities and the degree to which they focus on matters directly applicable and helpful to the Commuter Rail industry,” Librera said, “whether it be legislative proposals, funding strategies, enhanced dialogue with regulatory agencies or broader communication within and beyond the rail community.”

The Commuter Rail Coalition is an association of commuter rail agencies and industry allies acting together to engage and educate stakeholders on the value commuter railroads bring to the communities they serve. The Commuter Rail Coalition advocates for commuter railroads in the US, calling attention to the many benefits of commuter rail transportation and identifying the resources needed to continue those many beneficial impacts into the future.