Coppell City Council plans to extend workforce transit program

Coppell Gazette
By Arianna Morrison | Star Local Media
August 24, 2023

Coppell City Council met on Tuesday, Aug. 22 to provide direction on the extension of a partnership with Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) and Lyft for workforce transit.

In partnership with DCTA and Lyft, the city of Coppell started a workforce transit test program for Coppell businesses on Oct. 1, 2019 because businesses struggled to attract employees due to transportation challenges. The one-year program was established to study trends and gauge the need for a long-term solution to workforce transit in Coppell.

Even though the program started off slow, it started to gain momentum in Dec. 2019 and steadily increased until March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Since then, the Coppell City Council approved a one-year extension to the contract with DCTA three times and the current interlocal agreement is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2023.

Mindi Hurley, director of community development with the city of Coppell, said that ridership continues to increase and is being utilized by a larger number of companies. The service is being utilized seven days a week across different shift times throughout the day.

When the program began, ridership was concentrated on the west side of town, but now individuals are using it to get to work on the east side of town. Residents are also relying on the service for access to work at business locations in Coppell.

Staff is requesting to extend the interlocal agreement with DCTA until Sept. 30, 2024 to extend the program an additional year so city staff can continue to analyze ridership trends and data in the hopes that utilization will grow even more as employees learn about the program, Hurley said.

Lyft will continue providing all mobility services and DCTA will administer the contract and provide all administrative and operational services associated with the program.

City council was agreeable to the extension and staff will bring the interlocal agreement back for a formal vote at the next Coppell City Council meeting. All transit stops and ridership costs will remain the same and there are no changes to the existing service.