Ondemand transit proves an early success
Niagara Region’s Ondemand transit service is growing, and its pilot project has the green light for another year.
The goal is to provide an affordable and efficient public transit option in smaller municipalities such as Grimsby, West Lincoln, Lincoln, Pelham, Wainfleet and Niagara-on-thelake.
They aren’t big enough to afford traditional buses with fixed routes, so local councils entered into a partnership with the Region on a project that was launched in August.
Statistics, which are available for the first 15 weeks, showed NRT Ondemand completed 4,812 trips transporting 5,408 riders. The average daily ridership jumped from 17 passengers to 98, a growth rate of 463 per cent — and it’s all being accomplished during a global pandemic.
“It’s a troubling time, but with all of these different steps, we think this is a service that is benefiting these communities,” said Rob Salewytsch, the Region’s transit system’s planning co-ordinator. “It will only get better as we come out the other side of the pandemic.”
The Region has partnered with a company called Via, which provides the vans and the drivers. The service has an app for connections to the transit hubs in St. Catharines, Welland and Port Colborne.
The Region didn’t have to acquire the vehicles or train the drivers, Via takes care of that, as well as the app. That made the program an easier sell to local politicians. With no capital startup costs on the balance sheet, withdrawal from the program will be relatively inexpensive for taxpayers if the service doesn’t work.
Passengers select a pickup and drop-off location within their service zone and confirm their ride. Once a ride is booked, Via’s technology matches passengers headed in the same direction. The vehicles hold 10 people, and are picked up at a nearby corner or “virtual bus stop.”
The service is available Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The fare for intermunicipal trips — including connections to St. Catharines, Welland and Port Colborne — is $6. Intramunicipal fares in Grimsby, Lincoln and Pelham are $3.