City Pilots Fare-Free Neighborhood Microtransit Service, Denver, CO 2021

Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is piloting the Montbello Connector, a fare-free mobility on-demand (MOD) service in the city’s northeast. People in the Montbello neighborhood can request shared point-to-point rides through the Montbello Connector app or by calling a central phone line. Requests can be made in both English and Spanish. The zone for the Montbello Connector is a 5.2 square mile area that includes shopping destinations, the Montbello Recreation Center, and the Regional Transportation District’s Peoria Station. The microtransit service operates from 6 AM to 8 PM during the workweek. It has a fleet of three vehicles: a wheelchair-accessible van, a plug-in hybrid minivan, and an electric sedan. The City and County of Denver purchased the electric sedan with dollars from its Climate Protection Fund, a voter-approved initiative. Downtowner serves as the booking and routing technology partner while Northeast Transportation Connections (NETC), a transportation management association, is contracted to operate the Montbello Connector.

Since launching in October 2021, the Montbello Connector has completed about 60 rides on average each day. DOTI intends to get people to their destinations within 30 minutes of requesting their ride with this service. The Montbello Connector, as a microtransit service confined to a specific area of a larger city, can help customers on their first and last miles of their transportation journeys.

Last updated November 15, 2021