Looking for First/Last Mile Solutions in DuPage County

September 21, 2016

I am pleased to have made opening remarks at today’s John Noel Public Transit Conference and Shared Use Mobility Workshop in DuPage County. The RTA joined DuPage County and Choose DuPage to focus on practical and innovative first/last mile mobility solutions for employers and employees.

DuPage County has the second highest employment of any county in the region and is a great place to work for many reasons. However, the County presents its share of challenges to employees when businesses are located beyond a reasonable walking distance from transit. The RTA and DuPage County are seeking to remedy this problem by removing last-mile transit barriers to create a near seamless commute, broaden the employee base, and get people to work.  Our region's robust transit system is the backbone of our overall transportation ecosystem so we are always looking for partners to address challenges riders face and eliminate barriers to ridership. In some cases, working with Transportation Network Companies like Uber and Lyft may be a real world solution.

I was joined this morning by RTA staff in addressing this group of DuPage County organizations as we talked about the RTA's study  on transit access in major employment areas of the County and new ways to address this very real “first/last mile challenge.”

I look forward to hearing the results of today's discussions and we will share them with you as well.