The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) expanded its transit offerings with a new Mobility as a Service (MaaS) contract model.

In April, DCTA’s Board of Directors approved a new suite of on-call contracts that will allow the agency to allocate up to $2.4 million of its annual operating budget to offer a variety of mobility services via task orders.

In January 2019, DCTA issued a request for proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals from firms to provide innovative options to implement flexible, efficient, and effective mobility services. These services would enhance and supplement DCTA’s existing transit offerings and provide service to areas where traditional transportation options are less effective.

A total of 37 firms responded to DCTA’s RFP and 31 were selected to become a part of the agency’s MaaS contract model that specializes in various mobility solutions such as bike-sharing, integrated fare payment and collection, and autonomous vehicles.

“With our new MaaS contract in place, DCTA can add more value to the North Texas region by offering personal mobility options that are specifically tailored to each community we serve,” said Raymond Suarez, DCTA CEO. “This contract model puts us in a great position to supplement our existing transit services and prepare for future mobility technologies for potential implementation.”

DCTA’s MaaS contract model is one of the first in the U.S. that is available to other public agencies located in Texas, as well as other transportation organizations nationwide as allowed by Texas law. In addition, DCTA’s contract provides the vendor community with the ability to work with multiple cities across the country with no additional cost of procurement.

With new firms and evolving technologies available for utilization by a public transportation authority, DCTA may issue a new solicitation in the future to select additional firms or contractor teams. Firms or contractor teams already under contract would not be required to submit a new proposal.  

DCTA now has a wide range of firms to provide personal mobility options, explore opportunities to optimize transportation network efficiency, define a role for alternative and emerging mobility services in transit operations, and prepare for future multimodal service to areas where traditional transportation options are less effective.

This article was originally posted on Metro Magazine.