By Cecilia Nasmith
With council voting May 16 to offer on-demand transit as opposed to the old route system, following a one-year trial, the Town of Cobourg has issued some news about the service.
As of June 13, weekday service will end an hour earlier, at 9 p.m. This move is expected to save the town $20,000 annually.
And in acknowledgement of complaints from those who find the service difficult to use, the town's engineering staff are offering informational workshops for user groups such as retirement homes, schools and service groups, to instruct on the basics of the service, how to use it and how to book a ride. If you are interested in scheduling a presentation, you can contact the Engineering Department at 905-372-4555.
On-demand transit is a shared-ride public-transit service without a fixed schedule or route. Bus travel is optimized by computer software, based on ridership requests on a first-come-first-served basis. And if no trip is booked, vehicles can remain parked, saving fuel, lowering emissions and reducing wear-and-tear.
With the introduction of the new service, the town has begun to utilize three smaller eight-metre vehicles rather than a dedicated WHEELS bus and two larger conventional buses. This ensures that all vehicles used are wheelchair-accessible and can travel any street in town.
While bus stops are set up for conventional-transit users, the WHEELS service offers door-to-destination service. You can obtain a WHEELS application on the Cobourg Transit web page or by calling 905-372-4555.
In voting to make on-demand permanent, councillors cited increasing ridership, expanded service areas, shorter wait times and more efficient routes. They were also guided by the Engage Cobourg transit-user survey, on which 84% of respondents indicated they would like ot see the program continued.
