Your Chariot awaits ....new micro-transit system headed to South Lake Tahoe

In an effort to keep cars off the road, a key to increasing the clarity of Lake Tahoe, a new micro-transit system is heading to South Lake Tahoe.

Chariot, a shuttle company based in San Francisco, is coming to town for a three month trial run starting in just a few weeks.

"Chariot will be more responsive than traditional transportation," Jesse Patterson, Deputy Director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, told South Tahoe Now. "We'll get Chariot here and get people on board, then see if it works."

There will be some selected stops for the Chariot between Lakeview Commons and Stateline. The shuttle will run 20 minute routes, 7 days a week for 12 hours each day. A user will use a smart phone app to access the Chariot. Once in the app, riders can see where the shuttle is and how far away it is from them.

The stops, fares and hours will be determined in the next couple of weeks, and can be changed as readership dictates. In San Francisco commuters have flocked from the Muni system to the Chariot to get to work at $3-$5 a day.

Their website says, "We're focused on creating the world's first self-sustainable mass-transit system that relieves congestion while offering a comfortable, personalized commuting experience."

Another useful tool from Chariot will be the data it will collect on the riders, where they go, how often they use the transit system, and other valuable information for transportation planners.

Patterson said the League to Save Lake Tahoe will look at everything to make it work.

He said the benefits will be:
- Cheaper than Uber
- Shuttle comes every 20 minutes
- It is flexible, depending on need they can adjust to what makes the most sense
- Users can see how far away the shuttle is via their app
- It's reliable
- No worry about parking, traffic or DUIs.

Each Chariot will have wifi, usb ports and air conditioning, will have bike racks in summer, and if they return for winter, will have ski racks.

"There could even be routes from San Francisco to South Lake Tahoe in the future," said Patterson. "There is the potential to expand."

The shuttles could some day navigate around the lake, a public transportation void at this time.

"The whole plan is to get people out of cars," said Patterson, something hard to do as people want to be easily connected to all there is to do in Lake Tahoe.

Marissa Fox, the League's Legal and Policy Director, spoke to City Council on Tuesday, sharing with them the Chariot pilot program.

"We need frequent reliable ways to move around town, urge people out of their cars," Fox said. "We have a serious transportation problem, this is an ability to test another solution."

Fox said they estimate 350 users a day.

Besides the San Francisco Bay Area, Chariot operates in Austin, Seattle, Chicago, London, New York, Los Angeles, Columbus and Detroit.

Look for more news on Chariot in the next two weeks.