SEPTA Ridesharing Evaluation

ESI was hired by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in 2016 to assess the possible risks and opportunities faced in the new competitive landscape of ridesharing. While Transportation Network Companies (TNC’s) potentially pose a fundamental risk to SEPTA’s business model, their presence also offers vast opportunities for mutual gain where ridesharing’s influence may help turn some proportion of personal vehicle users into more willing multi-modal travelers, yielding opportunities to draw these consumers into transit usage.

ESI’s analysis represents a first step in understanding the full (and evolving) implications of ridesharing’s entry into the transportation market. This report identified a variety of areas where further inquiry and monitoring can help to inform SEPTA’s strategic direction and help position the agency in the evolving competitive landscape, including:

• More detailed audience modeling, to understand mode decision drivers for subsets of potential riders, and refine and size initial findings regarding the consumers representing the greatest opportunities to SEPTA;
• Detailed pricing analysis, exploring the potential results of various adjustments to SEPTA’s subscription model and potential promotional or price differentiation strategies;
• Analysis of forthcoming “big data” from SEPTA’s new payment technology, online app, and from pilot initiatives, to mine insights into consumer behavior and patterns.