Assistant Professor Bo Kapatsila and first-year Master of Urban Planning student Blake Carel are assisting Johnson County in evaluating Trip Connect, which provides curb-to-curb transportation services to people who need to get to work, education, or other essential services. Trip Connect is a two-year, grant-funded pilot program that launched in December 2024. The service operates from 5:00 PM to 12:00 AM, Sunday through Friday, and offers $2 rides across the northern region of Johnson County, which includes Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and Tiffin. Given that three public transit agencies, the University of Iowa CAMBUS, Iowa City Transit, and Coralville Transit, also cover this area, Johnson County wanted to understand if Trip Connect is competing with or complementing these services. 

Professor Kapatsila, who serves on the Trip Connect advisory board, was asked to help with this evaluation, and he guides Blake. The work has become Blake’s semester project for the Data Science for Urban Analytics course. Blake is enrolled in the undergraduate-to-graduate program, completing an undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy and Planning while simultaneously pursuing his master’s in urban and regional planning with a concentration in Transportation. He also brings practical insight as a CAMBUS driver.

For the project, Blake applies Python coding and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping skills he gained in urban planning courses to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of Trip Connect ridership. Blake models the potential trip times for Trip Connect users if they were to be completed via the existing fixed-route transit system. The preliminary analysis of 600 trips that took place between December 2024 and March 2025 suggests that most of the Trip Connect destinations could be reached using the current transit network on a weekday. However, longer travel times, primarily because of the need for multiple transfers, explain the preference riders have for Trip Connect. At the same time, the near absence of transit service on Sundays highlights the value of Trip Connect to the riders who cannot, or choose not to, use other modes of transport.

Professor Kapatsila and Blake are excited to use their expertise and inform Johnson County transit leaders as to how supplementary services, like Trip Connect, can bridge service gaps and help reduce travel times for riders. Additionally, the research may help Trip Connect identify employers whose workers rely on the service and seek their support for the service past the two-year pilot. The findings will also be published in an academic journal, showcasing the School of Planning and Public Affairs’ strong regional impact through course-integrated research.