In Brief

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• Two newer communities in the northernmost part of Calgary had no transit options, which meant that residents couldn’t connect with the rest of the city.
• The 12 designated pickup/drop-off virtual stops in the zone are within a 6-minute walk for all riders. Passengers use a mobile app to book a ride that is on-demand or pre-scheduled and are picked up in 5-seat minivans vans and 8-seat shuttles.
• This program is exceeding all initial expectations of the City of Calgary and is serving 120+ passengers per weekday just 6 weeks after launch; it continues to experience steady ridership growth each week.

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Background

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Serving over 100 million trips per year system-wide, Calgary Transit is one of the largest public transit agencies in Canada. They have over 1150 active service vehicles which provide high-quality transit to Calgary residents across the city. Until RideCo however, Carrington and Livingston — two newer communities in the northernmost part of Calgary — had no transit options. This meant that residents had no easy means of accessing the high-quality express transit that would connect them to other parts of the City.

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RideCo partnered with PW Transit to provide first and last mile connections and short local trips for residents of the Carrington-Livingston area in order to better integrate these newer neighborhoods into the city at large.

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Now, commuters can get to the nearest transit hub in just minutes, which allows them to seamlessly connect with the rest of Calgary.

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In our city, we have people leveraging the service that we offer. We just need to make sure we are keeping up with the times and offering the service in a way that meets need and is most economical.

— Jyoti Gondek, Calgary Ward 3 Councillor

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Key Challenges

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The service area for this project is a newer development with a low population density and no local bus routes. There were no preexisting transit riders in this neighborhood as a result, though great demand potential existed. Since this first/last mile gap meant that accessing the nearest transit hub was incredibly difficult for those who did not own a car, many in the Carrington-Livingston area were effectively cut off from the rest of the city.

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How It Works and Service Model

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• The 12 designated pickup/drop-off virtual stops in the zone are within a 6-minute walk for all riders
• Passengers use a mobile app to book a ride that is on-demand or pre-scheduled
• Riders are picked up in 5-seat minivans vans and 8-seat shuttles — some of which are wheelchair accessible
• All passengers are picked up or dropped off at one of two transit hubs in a nearby neighborhood

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RideCo’s Work

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RideCo facilitated an efficient launch of the program by providing the following services:

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Service Results

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This program is exceeding all initial expectations of the City of Calgary and is serving 120+ passengers per weekday just 6 weeks after launch. The service boasts industry-leading productivity for an on-demand solution and met all the goals of the 1-year pilot in just the first month. It continues to see steady growth in ridership.

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Metrics for the service have been very favorable thus far, including a 4.9 out of 5 stars average trip rating, 86% ride sharing, and 6.0 passenger boardings per vehicle hour.

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