Alberta town debuts on-demand bus service
The town of Cochrane became a more accessible and connected municipality Monday with the launch of an on-demand transit service.
Three buses with the new COLT (Cochrane On-demand Local Transit) livery were operational, to be joined by five more vehicles in the coming months.
Cochrane resident Jaclyn Laliberte was among the first to test the new service when she boarded the first bus in her Heartland neighbourhood.
“We’re looking for easy access to get around town with family especially to get to some of the events, and this will be a great local connection,” said Laliberte.
“We got up early and booked on the app, so it was very quick and easy to see if we would arrive at our destination on time and make sure that that was the best choice for us today.”
Instead of a traditional fixed-route service that makes scheduled stops at specific locations, Cochrane’s buses move on optimized routes based on where users are and where they want to go.
“Transit talks in Cochrane started years ago, and it has been a long road to get us to this day,” said Mayor Jeff Genung.
Bus stops are located throughout the town. From their smartphones, riders can use the RIDECOLT app to direct where they want to be picked up and dropped off.
A computer program will then compare the request with those of other riders and direct drivers on the most efficient route.