Uber to provide public transit in Ontario town

INNISFIL — An Ontario town daunted by the cost of building a traditional public transit system has turned to a popular ride-hailing company for a solution.

The town of Innisfil 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 in a telephone interview. “Any of the areas that we would try to set up fixedroute 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 about six months.

That money, she said, will be used to subsidize the cost of Uber rides booked through the company’s smartphone app and online platform.

Innisfil residents will be left to pay just $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, 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 wheelchair-accessible 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.

Murtaza Haider, who teaches travel demand forecasting at Toronto’s Ryerson University, project offers a solution that’s suitable for Innisfil’s specific needs, but said he doesn’t want to see Uber hold a monopoly on providing the town with transit options.