English
Wilmington residents can now plan, pay and ride transit on-demand; Powered by Moovit, RideMicro is expanding its service and offering mobile payment for a seamless shared transit experience
Wilmington, North Carolina – January 2022
Wave Transit is announcing the official launch of RideMicro, a new on-demand service and corresponding mobility app that enables locals to plan, pay, and ride shared transit trips. Residents of Wilmington are now able to download and use the free RideMicro app to plan public and shared transportation journeys with real-time arrival information, and even hail and pay for on-demand rides. This offering was created in partnership with Moovit, an Intel company, a leading Mobility as a Service solutions provider, which is powering the technology behind the RideMicro app and on-demand service.
Until now, the RideMicro pilot program operated a phone-based request and dispatch service for the vehicles. Now, for RideMicro’s official launch, Wave Transit, in collaboration with its partner Moovit, has modernized the service, provided more connections from Wilmington’s surrounding areas to its fixed routes, shortened walk and wait times and made it easier to book and track rides.
Users of the RideMicro app are now able to book and pay for on-demand transit rides in Brunswick, Pender, and New Hanover counties from 7:00-10:00am and 12:00-7:30pm during weekdays. Users can view the vehicle’s real-time arrival information and track it along its route. The service will connect to many points of interest, including main transportation hubs in the area such as University of North Carolina Wilmington, Cape Fear’s campuses, Battleship Wilmington, and Gordon Station to help improve onward travel opportunities.
The RideMicro app is powered by Moovit;s White Label App Solution, and the on-demand service is powered by Moovit’s On-Demand solution, a dynamically-routed transit system that automatically assigns multiple passengers heading in the same direction to a shared vehicle.
The RideMicro app:
Additionally, the RideMicro app combines official information from local transit agencies as well as crowdsourced information to calculate the best route for each journey. RideMicro also provides a Live Directions feature with Get Off alerts to provide step-by-step guidance for the entire journey, and Service Alerts so that users can avoid disruptions and plan their journey accordingly.
“Helping more people safely and efficiently commute to work, school, shopping, appointments, or just for entertainment has never been easier or more cost effective. RideMICRO fills in the gaps where one option may be too expensive and another option may not be convenient,” says Wave Transit Executive Director Marie Parker. “RideMICRO is one step toward an even better, more comprehensive mass transit system for the Wilmington region. Wave Transit is excited to be working with Moovit to bring flexible, on-demand service and a modern, all-in-one app to our customers.”
“Travel needs have evolved dramatically in line with the pandemic,” said Uli Gal-Oz, Vice President of Business Development at Moovit. “Moovit has worked with hundreds of transit agencies and listened to the needs of passengers around the world to gain a great understanding of travel demands which has helped shape this service for Wilmington residents — flexible transit, when you want it, with contactless mobile payments. We are excited to work with Wave Transit and power this new mobility offering so that riders can get around more efficiently.”
Hours of operation will gradually expand to reflect the Wave Transit hours of operation, as will service areas and stops.
The RideMico app is available to download on the App Store and Google Play.
About Moovit
Moovit (www.moovit.com), an Intel company, is a leading Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions provider and the creator of the #1 urban mobility app. Moovit was acquired by Intel in 2020 to join forces with Mobileye and advance its MaaS strategy. Together, Moovit and Mobileye will accelerate the global adoption of autonomous transportation.
Moovit’s iOS, Android, and Web apps guide people in getting around town effectively and conveniently, using any mode of transport. Introduced in 2012 it now serves over 1 billion users in more than 3,400 cities across 112 countries.
Moovit amasses up to six billion anonymous data points a day to add to the world’s largest repository of transit and urban mobility data. For governments, cities, transit agencies, and private companies, Moovit offers AI-powered MaaS solutions covering planning, operations, and optimization with proven value in reducing congestion, growing ridership, and increasing efficiency and asset utilization. Industry leaders such as Microsoft, Uber, and Cubic have partnered with Moovit to power their mobility offerings.
About Wave Transit
Wave Transit (www.wavetransit.com) is Wilmington, North Carolina’s major provider of public transportation. Passengers are encouraged to #RideTheWave around Wilmington aboard our 21 fixed routes, on ADA accessible vans, to work using WavePOOL, or on-demand with RideMICRO. Wave Transit provides more than one million rides per year across its services.
For nearly 50 years and through several name changes, Wave Transit has transported the people of the Greater Wilmington Area as the city grew and evolved. Passengers benefit from two beautiful transfer stations and more than 400 stops. All local college students enjoy free public transportation and the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) campus hosts Wave Transit services in the form of the Seahawk Shuttle. Environmentally conscious professionals can contract WavePOOL rideshare services to optimize their commute. There is a seat for everyone aboard Wave Transit.
