Stranded in the sticks? City looks at alternative on-demand bus service

Sault Ste. Marie is considering a phone app-summoned alternative bus service for hard-to-service areas, especially on the city's periphery.

The on-demand initiative could be Sault Transit's first venture away from big, half-empty diesel buses driving fixed routes, hoping to find passengers in sparsely populated parts of the city.

"The aim is to further support our traditional system and the new routes that have been implemented through the route optimization process," says Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services.

"Many municipalities are entering into partnerships with third parties to utilize new technologies and/or provide alternative services to meet consumer demand where conventional service does not support in the most economic means," Lamming said in a report to Mayor Provenzano and city councillors.

Lamming talks about the City of Belleville, which started experimenting last week with a night bus that operates in some respects like Lyft or Uber or other real-time ridesharing services.

Belleville transit riders use a cellphone app or website to request a pickup and specify a drop-off point.

Routing software then determines the optimal bus route.

Here in the Sault, City Council voted this week to invite expressions of interest for on-demand transit services, augmenting Sault Transit's existing bus routes.

"Currently, we have kind of on-demand right now, but it's not true on-demand in real time," Lamming said at Monday's City Council meeting.

Lamming said the city's paratransit service could also benefit from real-time ride-hailing capability.

Ward 3 councillor Matthew Shoemaker and his Ward 5 counterpart Frank Fata both wondered why the city doesn't leave on-demand transportation services to private-sector operators that already have the needed infrastructure.

"Why are we doing this and not simply opening up the market for a private company to offer this service on demand?" asked Shoemaker. "It's probably something that a cab service can offer much more easily, without any local investment."

Councillor Fata also expressed concern about Sault Transit's recently re-jigged routes and schedules.

"Our current bus system is not working for a lot of people," said Fata, specifically referencing problems in the west end and Prentice Avenue area.

It's expected that new transit models will be presented to City Council at a future meeting, with any cost implications to be considered as part of the 2019 budget deliberations.

In other transportation news, City Council agreed this week to issue a request for proposals for a six-month bicycle-sharing trial.

City officials are hoping the point-to-point bike rentals can be introduced without cost to the municipality.