The Middletown XtraMile shuttle service, an on-demand ride program operating to and from 17 stops around the city, has replaced the app for requesting pickups and updated its hours of operation for the fall 2023 semester. The changes come as the program, which started last year, applies for additional funding to expand the shuttle service.

Through the XtraMile app, users can specify their pickup location and their destination and check on the estimated wait time for the shuttle to come pick them up. After a wait of roughly 5 to 15 minutes, the shuttle will come and drive the user to their destination. The service is free for Wesleyan students and costs $1.75 per ride for non-students. 

XtraMile started as a project of River Valley Transit for the Shoreline service area, which includes Old Saybrook, Centerbrook, Essex Village, the Essex Steam Train, and portions of Westbrook, CT. Following the program’s success, River Valley Transit worked with the University to create a similar initiative in Middletown, collaborating with the Sustainability Office.

“We were very excited about this because it seemed like it had gone well down there and would be a nice way to get people around central Middletown,” Sustainability Director Jen Kleindienst said. “I wanted something that was a little bit more flexible [than buses], especially given transportation culture at Wes and beyond.”

The service started in Fall 2022 with a one-semester federal grant awarded to River Valley Transit through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The shuttle ran six days a week and saw over 4,000 riders over the course of the semester. For Spring 2023 and Fall 2023, the price of continuing the service has been split between River Valley Transit and the University, albeit with reduced service: In Spring 2023, the shuttle ran only on Friday and Saturday. This semester, it runs Thursday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

One of the most notable changes made this semester is the replacement of the app used to order the service. The new app is called XtraMile by RVT and was developed in response to several issues with the original app, Transloc.

“It just wasn’t the greatest app, and didn’t always get the accurate times of how long the shuttle would take to come pick someone up,” Kleindienst said. “And just was a little bit glitchy and clunky. They totally upgraded to a brand-new asset…which seems to be working really well for this year.”

Students echoed these concerns about the old app, reporting issues with scheduling shuttle rides.

“I think we tried to schedule [the shuttle] for 2:30,” Simon Moss ’26 said. “And [the app] gave an error or something. So we scheduled it for 3:00, and then it gave an error. And then we scheduled for 3:15, and it worked. And then the person showed up at like 3:50.”

Users also complained that the old app was difficult to navigate.

“Another thing that I think was confusing about the app is the schedule was really weird,” Moss said. “The fact that you had to swipe between different schedules in the app for weekends and weekdays. I think could have been streamlined. I think it just wasn’t very intuitive.”

In order to return to the six-day service that was possible during the service’s first semester running, River Valley Transit has applied for a two-year microtransit grant that would allow XtraMile to run Monday to Thursday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday to Saturday from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. The times were chosen because weekends have significantly higher ridership.

“The State of Connecticut is interested in expanding microtransit,” River Valley Transit Planner Brendan Geraghty said. “They saw examples of us and [a] few other transit agencies who have been doing microtransit successfully, and they kind of want to test it out.”

River Valley Transit was supposed to receive notice of whether or not the grant had been awarded over the summer, but the decision has been delayed due to the high volume of projects that the State of Connecticut is considering. If the grant is awarded, the funds will become available roughly three months later, according to the Sustainability Office. 

“Hopefully, fingers crossed, that’ll mean we’ll get [it], if not for the spring, Fall 2024,” Geraghty said. “And hopefully we’ll have more service as well.”

If the grant is not awarded, the future of the service will be uncertain. However, Geraghty expressed optimism that the service would still be able to continue in some form even without state funding. 

“Jen has been trying to get the higher-ups at Wesleyan to commit to longer-term funding for more service,” Geraghty said. “So if it doesn’t go through, we might still be able to come away with more service than we would have now. But the goal is definitely to get the state money.”

Should the grant come through, a second shuttle will likely be added.

“Having one vehicle during high volume times can mean that people might be waiting longer than the usual,” Kleindienst said. “During peak times, it could be a 15- or 20-minute wait, which can be okay, but can also be frustrating, especially if you need to get somewhere on time. But hopefully for the spring and beyond, we’ll have a second vehicle, and that will address nearly all of the major concerns and we can work out any of the minor issues.”

At the moment, the service is heavily utilized by the Wesleyan community: Although there are no statistics on what percentage of riders are students, 97% of rides last year started or ended on the Wesleyan campus, according to River Valley Transit. With more funding, XtraMile could expand to provide more convenient access for Middletown residents.

“[The service being geared toward Wesleyan students] is somewhat intentional, because it’s a larger population with many people who don’t have cars and want to get around,” Kleindienst said. “But…I think that there’s the possibility for doing more expansion both physically and in terms of marketing to the Middletown community.”

However, River Valley Transit pointed to the difficulty in achieving a balance between an expansive network and low wait times, which requires many drivers. Adding stops is often feasible, but expanding the transit area can be difficult. 

“We’ve heard some folks want access to Stop & Shop on South Main Street,” Geraghty said. “That’s just too far for us. We can’t go there. If someone requests a ride there, it’s going to be a good 20 minutes just [to] get down there…you’re looking at the bus being out for 40 minutes. So that’s just not going to be sustainable.”

Geraghty also emphasized other changes to Middletown public transit that are expected to go into effect within the next month. Bus routes and schedules will be reorganized; the 583, which has stops along Washington Street, will pull into campus twice a day and take 20 minutes to get to Washington Street destinations.

Leo Bader can be reached at lbader@wesleyan.edu.