Ontario town partners with Uber to provide public transit service
INNISFIL, Ont. — An Ontario town daunted by the cost of building a traditional public transit system has turned to a popular ridehailing company for a solution.
The town of Innisfil, Ont., is subsidizing the cost of rides for its residents with Uber Canada, offering flat rates to travel to certain public hubs and offering a discount for travel anywhere else within the community.
Some American cities have struck similar partnerships with Uber in the past, but the company said the arrangement in Innisfil, effective Monday, marks the first time a Canadian municipality has enlisted Uber to fill a public transit void.
Innisfil Deputy Mayor Lynn Dollin said the option made sense given the demographic breakdown of the town, which sees a population of about 36,000 scattered over about 270 square kilometres largely consisting of gravel roads and rural areas.
“The issue we’ve got is with the population so spread out,” Dollin said. “Any of the areas that we would try to set up fixed-route transit or a more traditional transit system with, we’d end up not servicing about 80 per cent of the geography, but asking everybody to subsidize it.”
Dollin said the town has set aside $100,000 for the first phase of the project, which is currently projected to last six months. That money will be used to subsidize the cost of Uber rides booked through the company’s smartphone app and online platform.
Residents will be left to pay $3 for a ride to and from the area surrounding the town’s recreational complex and town hall, while lifts to and from regional GO Transit bus stops will cost $5.
People looking to commute to and from the GO train station in neighbouring Barrie, Ont., as well as a local employment hub and car-pool lot near a major highway, will pay $5.
Residents also have the option to take a ride wherever they please within the town, Dollin said, adding the municipality will give people $5 off all those rides.
Innisfil has partnered with a taxi company in a neighbouring city to offer wheelchairaccessible service at the same rates. And iPads have been installed at the community centre to help those without smartphones access a ride if needed, Dollin said.
If the first phase of the project is successful, the town plans to potentially expand the service.
Uber said the arrangement meets the unique needs of the Innisfil community while hopefully promoting broader use of public transit resources further afield. “We want to encourage as many people as we can to leave the personal car at home, and rather than driving into other cities connect to local transit hubs and think about connecting to public transit in that manner,” said Uber Canada Public Policy manager Chris Schafer.
Dollin said very early signs on Monday suggest the partnership is already in demand among a population that has been seeking a transit solution for years.
One expert hailed the partnership as an innovative solution, but raised concerns that only one player was currently allowed to provide regular service.
Murtaza Haider, who teaches travel demand forecasting at Toronto’s Ryerson University, said the project offers a solution for Innisfil’s specific needs, but said doesn’t want to see Uber hold a monopoly on providing transit.