‘Microtransit,’ exploration of on-demand public transit

On his professional blog, public transit consultant Jarrett Walker poses an interesting question: Is “Microtransit” an actual new idea?
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Walker identifies three key ideas in the concept of Microtransit:

1. Service whose routing changes in response to demands or requests, as opposed to fixed routes where the path of the vehicle is fixed in advance.
2. Private sector role in providing service, but with a taxpayer subsidy.
3. Use of mobile smartphone applications for hailing, paying, and navigating, instead of ordering rides by phone.

Walker then argues that flexible routing and private-sector operation under contract by government are both very old ideas, and suggests that perhaps really the only new thing is the use of apps for hailing rides.

He asks that readers weigh in on the question, “Is microtransit a new idea at all?” And so:

Perhaps other agencies do things differently, but in the communities where I’ve ridden public transit, on-demand, door-to-door service has ONLY been made available “to people whose disabilities prevent them from using fixed route public transit.” (That quote is from “Paratransit” on the Sonoma County Transit website serving Sonoma County, Calif.) Dial-a-ride is NOT offered to the general public, only to these specific riders.

Perhaps the “new” idea being proposed is that door-to-door, flexible, transit be offered to EVERY fare-paying customer — along with, as Walker mentions, the new ride-hailing app capability.