OC Transpo to test drive on-demand service

OC Transpo will test drive on-demand service like an Uber in the next two years, as it looks to enhance its service for transit riders and bring back customers following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ottawa's Transit Commission will receive the Transit Service's 5-year Roadmap on Thursday, outlining OC Transpo's goals and plans over the next five years.

"The 5-Year Roadmap is future focused and will guide how OC Transpo modernizes and grows into a world-class transit network with high service reliability, high customer satisfaction, and highly engaged employees," says the report, tabled by Transit Services General Manager Renee Amilcar.

The transit roadmap has five pillars and 22 strategic initiatives, including an on-demand transit pilot project in selected areas.

"Many of our customers’ travel patterns have changed, and with that change comes new possibilities for improvements and efficiencies," the report says.

"On-demand transit is one of those possibilities; it allows for flexible routing and scheduling that responds in real-time to customers’ travel demands. We will assess whether on-demand transit could be viable in Ottawa and we will update Transit Commission on the findings."

The report says OC Transpo will retain an on-demand analysis and software company to fully assess viability in Ottawa and analyze areas where on-demand service has the "potential to be viable operationally." The pilot project for on-demand service will be held in "selected areas, at key times," staff said.

The timeline for the on-demand transit pilot project runs from the summer of 2023 to the winter of 2025. There is no word in the report on when the on-demand pilot project will hit the roads.

Former Coun. Carol-Anne Meehan and current Coun. Wilson Lo have called on Ottawa to explore on-demand transit, as ridership remains below pre-pandemic levels.

In 2018, Belleville launched on-demand service for overnight bus routes. Riders can now book on-demand bus service in the evenings, allowing people to request trips on demand with the press of a button from their computer or mobile device.

The pilot project is one of five initiatives under the "our customers" pillar in the transit roadmap.

"We will be enhancing our services by deploying new fare systems, transforming our communications, and exploring various other transit solutions, such as on-demand transit," the report says.

Other initiatives in the "our customers" pillar include deliver advanced fare systems, deliver Para Transpo enhancements, customer service improvements and build and maintain strong relationships with Council.

Riders mixed about on demand service

As the city looks at implementing a pilot project for on-demand buses, some riders say it could fill a hole of when there is very little service, such as at night or on weekends. Claire Della Torre takes transit to work every day. She says, “I think it would be valuable for when the buses aren’t running as often especially on Sundays when they don’t run as often, and you have to get to work or whatever.”

Joel Fitzpatrick lives in Kanata and says OC Transpo has to do something to win back riders. “There are lots of buses with no riders on them,” he says. Fitzpatrick says that on-demand buses could be a creative solution the city needs. He says, “We need to make it more versatile for everybody’s use… The transit system is in dire straits right now.”

But other riders say before new tools are introduced to the city’s public transit system, they need to fix existing problems, such as winter reliability and buses constantly running late.

Sydney Shufelt just graduated from uOttawa and would take the bus from Kanata to school. She says the on-demand pilot project “is an advanced idea… and could be beneficial. We need to work on the functioning system that we have because in the winter months some people have waited hours for the bus because our buses aren’t equipped for Canadian winters most of the time.”

OC Transpo says ridership patterns are changing especially as hybrid work is here to stay, and the on-demand would allow for flexible routing. But public servant Michelle Ryan says people still need reliable service every day. Ryan says the service needs to do better when it comes to bus connections between buses as well as making the system more fluid with the light rail system. “I work for the federal government, and I get to Pimisi station, and the connection times are like 20-30 minutes.”

CTV Ottawa reached out to OC Transpo for an interview, but no one was made available.