Can transit apps boost ridership? An empirical study in San Antonio, Texas

In the past decade, an increasing number of smartphone transit apps have become available for transit riders to pay fares, plan trips, and check real-time vehicle information. Despite the growing popularity of transit apps, their impact on transit ridership is still not well understood. This study investigates the impact of the VIA goMobile app on bus ridership using longitudinal panel data on route-level monthly ridership in San Antonio, Texas. This quasi-experimental study employed random-effect (RE) regression models to evaluate the influence of the transit app on ridership from 2015 to 2019 while controlling for various ridership influencers, such as transit fare, route characteristics, weather, socioeconomic conditions, and gas prices. This study deployed 59 RE models to examine the relationship between the app deployment and ridership changes over time for both frequent and infrequent bus routes. The findings revealed that the app exerted a significant positive impact on ridership for infrequent bus routes but not for frequent ones. The app’s positive effect on ridership for infrequent bus routes grew more pronounced after its launch. Since the VIA goMobile app became available, infrequent routes experienced an average increase of 1,634 trips per route per month, translating to $99,840 in monthly revenue. The study contributed to the understanding of transit apps and provided insights into how transit apps can be strategically deployed to enhance different types of bus services. These findings offered valuable insights for transit industry leaders to evaluate the cost and benefits of transit apps and make informed decisions about effective ridership-boosting strategies.