Connected Car
Microtransit, which provides point-to-point, on-demand service to residents of cities across the United States, is growing in Birmingham. That’s a good thing because it provides people choices, other than just driving themselves, in how they get around the city, Fowler said. “Anything that we can do to help provide people with options, besides having to own and operate their own car, I think is a real benefit for the city,” he said. Via, which launched its services in Birmingham in 2019, is a global provider of transit software that was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in New York City. “It’s more roadways, more sidewalks, streetlights, more striping, more signs, it’s more pipes and stormwater inlets and all the things that go along with roadways as we spread out, so it’s difficult for us to afford to grow that way,” Fowler said.