AGENDA DATE: 9/2/2026
TITLE:
Title
MicroCAT Program Update and Fee Discussion
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Presentation of MicroCAT program and recommended fee structure for FY27, for Board of Supervisors discussion and approval.
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Wall, Sumner, Herrick, Ruege, McDermott, Swartzendruber, Davidson
PRESENTER (S): Ryan Davidson
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: The Albemarle County Transit Expansion Plan, completed in early 2022, was a planning exercise funded through a Department of Rail and Public Transit (DRPT) Grant and managed by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District (TJPDC) to evaluate opportunities to expand and improve transit throughout much of the Albemarle County Urban Development Areas. The result of that study was a recommendation to implement a micro-transit service to serve the Pantops and Places 29 - North Development Areas through a pilot program. Micro-transit is a relatively new transit mode being implemented across the country. The service is an on-demand, technology-enabled solution that offers real-time trip requests and dynamically routed vehicles. It is primarily designed to provide a "first-mile/last-mile" transit solution that can take riders to either close-by destinations or transport the rider to and from a transit stop along fixed-bus routes where the bus will then take the rider to a farther away destination.
In 2023 Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) applied for and received a $1.94 million demonstration grant to implement micro-transit in the Pantops and Places 29 - North Development Areas. The County committed to a local match for this grant of $388,000. The service began operating in late October 2023 and in July of 2025 the service crossed the 100,000-rider mark.
As a condition of the demonstration grant, the micro-transit service was to remain fare free for the duration of the grant. The final year of the grant wa...
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