Bye, bye buses, hello ‘demand response transit’ or Uber, Wake Forest style
The Town of Wake Forest is about to sign a three-year $2,420,245 contract with River North Transit LLC in which that company will provide what they call a “proprietary cloud-based dynamic vehicle routing and real-time passenger aggregation system.” At some point after October 1 of this year, the town will cease using the Raleigh buses for the two bus routes and will depend on three vehicles, two wheelchair accessible and one equipped with a bike rack. The ride service will be similar to Uber or Lyft. An app will be available for smart phone users to call a vehicle to their location and then ride to a destination within the town and the Wakefield service extension. A rider may also call into a call center and schedule a ride. The three-year contract says River North will contract with a vehicle rental company and with the individual “driver partners,” providing overall
