The Beltline expanded its free autonomous shuttle to the Atlanta University Center today, as part of ATL Spoke’s 12-month pilot program for new “mobility options.”
ATL Spoke started service in June with four vehicles that could fit 12 passengers each. The cars ran every 12-15 minutes, 10 hours a day and seven days a week. They’re autonomous vehicles, but each comes with a “dedicated onboard attendant.”
The Beltline pitched the pilot project as a way to “help close first and last-mile gaps” between the Beltline and transit options like MARTA. The two-mile route opened with stops at Lee + White, MARTA’s West End Station and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard.
Now it will stop at the AUC: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College.
“By expanding this pilot to the Atlanta University Center, we are not only expanding mobility options for students, faculty, staff and visitors,” Atlanta Beltline, Inc. President and CEO Clyde Higgs said. “We are testing a model that Atlanta and other cities can learn from as they work to build more equitable, connected and opportunity-rich communities.”
The new stop was always part of the pilot program, funded through a $1.75 million grant from the Georgia Transportation Efficiency Authority. The cars are controlled by autonomous mobility service provider Beep’s control centers, with software from Adastec. The cars are Karsan’s Autonomous e-JESTs.
“Expanding ATL Spoke gives us an opportunity to learn how autonomous transit can serve a broader range of riders and destinations,” Beltline, Inc. Transit Innovation VP Joe Iacobucci said.
Iacobucci joined Atlanta Beltline, Inc. in February to lead design and delivery on a “multimodal transportation network.” His role indicates a shift away from the fraught Beltline rail proposal to extend the downtown streetcar into light rail along the walking path, and into different solutions, including an often-proposed “spoke system” to connect areas of the city to the Beltline via buses and other transit.
But Iacobucci said the ridership data and “community feedback” from the 12-month ATL Spoke program will help the Beltline “understand how this type of service can complement MARTA and other transit options and inform future neighborhood mobility solutions.”
just think …. what if these were running between VAHI and Midtown West , back and forth , all day , at 12-15 minute intervals !!!!!!!!! using 10th Street and connnecting to the MARTA Midtown Station …… imagine actually being able to take your carry on , walk a couple of blocks , and know you could get to MARTA shortly enough to train to ATL …..