. Crain’s Chicago Business shares this idea by Joseph P. Schwieterman, a p Crain’s Chicago Business shares this idea by Joseph P. Schwieterman, a professor and director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University:

Form strategic partnerships with ride-sharing operators like Lyft, Uber and Via.

This idea isnt as controversial as it may seem: These private operators are proving to be reliable partners across the country.

Our new study shows they are supporting programs that run the gamut, from discounts for ride-shares to certain bus or train stops, to eliminating “transit deserts,” to catering to disadvantaged populations.

In greater Dayton, Ohio, the regional transit provider offers free Lyft service to transit stops in areas affected by reduced bus service. The city of Detroit offers discounted Lyft trips to and from certain transit stops during the wee hours of the night. Jersey City contracts with Via to run 14 six-seat vans, priced at just $2 a ride, to allow for faster trips when bus and rail service is poor.

Such partnerships require trial and error, political buy-in and staff commitment, but they help agencies gradually reinvent themselves—and move beyond a two-sizes-fits-all approach to transit that centers on conventional buses and trains.

All of these ideas require adequate funding for our established bus and rail system—which is the top priority.

But agencies must also recommit to working together and testing new ideas.

In a world forever changed by COVID, we need more innovation—and need it fast.

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This has been considered by the McHenry County Board.

It seems obvious that most PACE bus riders could be served less expensively by Uber or Lyft.

But in 2015, Pace shot the idea down.

It’s hard to deny that much of McHenry County would fit the description of “transit desert.”