Ridership Growth Driving Mountain View Transit Offering

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- The Mountain View Transportation Management Association is looking down the road with plans to work with ride-sharing partners and sooner an upgraded fleet with five, new, 30-passenger vehicles and a real-time vehicle tracking mobile application.

The community's transit agency is investing in its offerings based on consistent ridership growth.

Ridership of "MVgo" has increased by over 35 percent since the program launched in 2015, despite the temporary closure of several large employer campuses in the North Bayshore area. 2018 ridership has risen by 7 percent since 2017. Its expected to surpass 130,000 passengers by the end of the year.

“MVgo has been working diligently to reduce traffic and improve public transit options throughout Mountain View’s Bayshore and East Whisman corporate campus districts,” said Janice Yuen, MTMA board chair in the Commercial Division at Sares Regis Group of Northern California. “We’re proud of our increasing ridership, and are excited to accommodate many more passengers with the addition of comfortable new buses and a new mobile real-time tracking app.”

The new vehicles feature both DriveCam dashboard cameras and Mobileye, a windshield-mounted collision avoidance system that sounds an alarm to alert the driver of potential hazards or collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, or lane dividers. DriveCam and Mobileye allow MVgo to ensure consistently safe service for passengers and improve MVgo’s ability to improve driver training.

The new real-time tracking mobile application RIDEMVGO provides passengers with an up-to-the-minute view of the MVgo shuttle system such as arrival times, live bus tracking and favorite stops and alerts.

The agency will also be partnering with Lyft and Uber starting in early 2019. The pilot program will offer discounted shared trips starting or ending in Mountain View from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is also looking to partner with Scoop and WazePool to promote the use of carpools for those commuting to or from Mountain View.

MVgo’s routes and bus schedules can be found on the agency's website at MVgo.org.

--Image via De Ann Lawrence White