Why are on-demand microtransit wait times so unpredictable in the suburbs?

[RobertVT]

I’ve been trying to use my city’s new on-demand microtransit service in the suburbs, but the wait times seem really unpredictable. Sometimes a van comes in ten minutes, other times the app says it’s over half an hour, which defeats the purpose of ditching my car for these last-mile trips.

[MatthewID]

Yeah, the timing is all over the place. I booked yesterday and got a pickup in 9 minutes, then the ETA slid to 25. It makes you hesitate to ditch the car for last‑mile stuff.

[IsabellaIR]

Could be the microtransit fleet size isn’t enough for the suburbs, or rides are being pooled weirdly. I wonder if the app is just guessing ETA based on few data points. Not sure if that’s the real bottleneck though.

[Jacob_H]

I tried doubling the buffer and planning a transfer to a bus once. It helped once, but most days the system still seems jagged.

[AbigailW]

Is the pickup zone density the real problem, or is something else going on with the dispatch? I keep feeling like I’m chasing a moving target.