Residents of Mansfield, Ohio share their ideas for improved route access for second- and third-shift workers. Credit: MATI Program, used with permission of local teams.
The Mobility, Access, and Transportation Insecurity (MATI) program, spearheaded by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies (CTS), is a national research and demonstration effort dedicated to addressing transportation insecurity—a critical barrier linked to persistent poverty. Since its inception in early 2023, the program has secured over $7.24 million in competitive funding from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), including the foundational $6 million grant. This funding supports a dual-track implementation framework: with an urban phase that involved $1.2 million for plan development across eight sites, followed by $2.8 million for full-scale demonstration projects in four of those communities. Concurrently, the rural phase deploys $400,000 for planning grants to four small communities, underpinning the program's rigorous mandate to evaluate mobility interventions.
MATI's initial demonstration phase centered on urban challenges, prioritizing participatory design to address mobility barriers faced by a range of demographic groups, such as low-income families or non-traditional shift workers. The technical interventions currently in the implementation stage are focused and measurable: projects include the use of vanpooling and ride-share subsidies to support caregiver mobility in Chicago, the implementation of deviated routing to improve access for second- and third-shift workers in Mansfield, Ohio, and the deployment of a coordinated, reduced-cost fare card across multiple transit agencies in Southern Maine. Additionally, one project is dedicated to facilitating transit and pedestrian safety infrastructure improvements to aid low-income women in Oahu, reflecting the program's commitment to localized, high-impact research.
Building on the urban framework, the program strategically expanded its research scope to rural settings, addressing the distinct mobility deficits in non-urban areas. This phase focuses on novel, community-shaped technical solutions, including the pilot of Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) technology for micro-transit in Rockingham County, North Carolina, and the integration of comprehensive mobility services with healthcare access in Hillsdale County, Michigan. Other interventions involve innovative service-delivery models such as an EV-based mobile grocery initiative in North Dakota and a community-driven collaborative paratransit system in Pea Ridge, Arkansas.
The research team, led by Professor and MATI Co-Principal Investigator Yingling Fan, will oversee the rigorous evaluation of all these diverse demonstrations, leveraging these findings to generate national dialogue and detailed reports on how systematic mobility improvements can meaningfully improve quality of life for individuals and families, while also delivering far-reaching societal benefits in employment participation, health access, and overall economic competitiveness upon the program's conclusion in 2028.