Buses are going to meet people where they are at in the east end of the city soon.
Information sessions on the new Timmins Transit microtransit on-demand program are running at Northern College today (July 25). While there is a delay to the service hitting the road, management is excited about the future.
For the new service, riders in Porcupine and South Porcupine will be able to book a ride on the app, online or by phone. They will choose a designated on-demand bus stop to be picked up and brought to a designated stop to connect with the main bus routes.
“With this system, we can offer service to more communities,” said Timmins Transit manager Marcel Côté. “Now we can offer it with micro-transit because it’s efficient. We’re not sending a 40-foot, 13-tonne bus down a road that wasn’t designed for vehicles that size.”
People at this morning's public session expressed concerns about accessibility for those without a cell phone or seniors who have trouble walking to the new virtual stops.
Côté said that the new system will include a phone line to help people book trips without a cell phone, the same way the paratransit system has been working since February.
The transit-on-demand system for the general public is run on the same system as the current paratransit app.
The micro-transit service was slated to launch on Aug. 1, but has been tentatively pushed back to Sept. 3. The city announced the delay today, saying it's to meet collective agreement deadlines for the drivers.
The program will use two of the six paratransit buses during the pilot, but it is not expected to affect the paratransit service times.
The transit on-demand rides will take users to the Porcupine Mall, where they can board a traditional bus for the remainder of their journey. If a user is not going to the mall or Timmins, they can also use the service within the area.
“You can use it within the zone, kind of like a cab, but if someone else books a ride, you’ll stop for them too,” he said.
The on-demand stops will be located at:
- Earl and Conley (shelter)
- Queen and Seguin
- Trident Mining and Highway 101
- Krznaric and Haileybury
- King and Haileybury
- King and Bellemare (shelter)
- Ontario Government Complex (shelter)
- Highway 101 and Florence
- Highway 101 and Ruth
- Highway 101 and Ferguson (shelter)
- Whitney Arena
- Spruce Hill Lodge (north and southbound)
- Bruce and Legion
- Legion and Bruce
- Bruce and Moore (north and southbound)
- Lakeview (Shelter)
- South Porcupine Terminal and Terminal Shelter
- Main and Essa
- Main and Broadway
- Main and Powell (east and westbound)
- Harold and Main (southbound only)
- Northern College (shelter)
For people currently using one of these stops for conventional transit, they will have to book through the on-demand app after the service launches.
This pilot program is expected to run for a year, but there are plans to expand the program.
“With a year of piloting, analyzing data, getting approval from council, and moving forward, we’re probably looking at two years from now to make the switch,” said Côté.
A second public information session will be held tonight in the Northern College gymnasium from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“The change itself can be intimidating, and people are nervous, and we’ll do our best to help as much as we can to ease the transition,” said Côté.
