Christine Whelan FEO, September 29, 2022, VOL. 4 ISSUE 3
On October 4th, 2022 The Town of Fort Erie and Regional Limousine will celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the transition from a Fixed Route system to an On-Demand system. They are very excited to celebrate their great achievements this year and to continue to move this system in a forward direction serving all residents of Fort Erie.”
The Fort Erie Transit System: The Transformation From Fixed Route to On-Demand
The Town of Fort Erie has been providing transit service since 1979 to residents in the town who require transportation in this community.
In 2017, transit in Fort Erie underwent a major transformation, taking it from one route, which went from the main urbanized areas of Fort Erie, out to Crystal Beach and Ridgeway and back into Fort Erie, consisting of mainly a flag stop service with very little fixed stops, to then being a three fixed route service, servicing all the main urban areas of the town which now included the Stevensville and Black Creek area.
In late 2019, a fourth route was introduced that mirrored the most popular route, but in the counterclockwise direction. During this time, more research into the emerging On-Demand model for transit began.
The system struggled to provide an effective and cost-efficient service that could provide transit solutions for all town residents. With the town’s smaller population size and expansive landscapes with lots of kilometres between each unique urbanized area of town, often buses were running with very little or no passengers on some routes.
During the pandemic, the transit lost approximately 60-70% of its ridership. As the system moved through the pandemic, and its ever-changing landscape of rear-door boarding, no fares, seating limits, lockdowns, etc., the Town members kept their focus on transforming the system from fixed routes to On-Demand. With Council’s blessing to move forward in 2021, staff began the RFP process and eventually awarded the new contract to a local company, Regional Limousine, who had contracted with Pantonium (pantonium.com) to provide the software for the new system, and continued to use TransitFare Systems (transitfare.com) to track ridership fare payments and GPS locate the vehicles in real-time.
This new conversion has also allowed the Town to serve every single resident in Fort Erie who needs transit. Staff set the system to work in two ways. First, within the urban boundaries, use the existing stop-to-stop network with existing bus stop signs. This way infrastructure that was already in place wasn’t wasted.
Since starting, more stops were added where needed, stops were removed that were redundant and added points of interest (POIs) where riders can choose a popular spot like a store or restaurant, beach access point or parks within the town. Then in the rural areas where a safe walking network is not an option (no sidewalks, streetlighting, etc.), vehicles will pick up and drop off riders at an address-based point that the rider enters.
A Positive Word
Jennifer Pennell-Ajie, EA to Director and Division Coordinator commented, “Word of mouth is our biggest driver for communication here, in Fort Erie, we find with most things. Even when we do surveys with people, we ask them, how did you hear about the Transit and they answer, by word of mouth. We want to ensure that the word of mouth is very positive.”
After the initial adjustments last October, with some trial and error and growing pains, the system began to run smoothly. Now one year later, Jennifer says, they’ve evolved.
“Any new rider who has taken the Transit this year for the first time might find some frustration and might find a little bit of a learning curve. It does take a little adjustment.” She added, “When I speak to people now who had frustrations at the beginning they say, ‘This is great. I get what I’m supposed to do now and it runs great.'”
Jennifer admits there are still frustrations when they get really busy. “There are some things that are a little bit out of our control but we do our best. Nick and Julie Brady at Niagara Limousine are amazing and do their best to accommodate where they can.”
The Numbers Speak For Themselves
“We keep on having record numbers month over month. We just had a record month in August for ridership.” In August, the On-Demand vehicles moved a record high of 5,847 people around town. In August 2019, the three fixed routes moved 3,244 people.
Not many rides can be attributed to the 13 for 13 Festival, the Waterfront Supper Market or concerts that month, according to Jennifer. “It seemed it was just a lot of people moving around in August.”
The numbers both reflect that the On-Demand Transit service is a success and show that people were out living again in August.
A Greener Transit
According to the recent study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on the Fort Erie Transit transition from a fixed route system to an On-Demand system, Fort Erie has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions per ride by 58%, and fuel consumption decreased per passenger-kilometre by nearly 52%.
In other words, the new system transports a passenger the same distance using half the fuel.
The Town of Fort Erie and Niagara Limousine will be celebrating their first year of adjustment, teamwork, growth and accomplishment on October 4th with an anniversary party, complete with cake and local officials.
Photo provided by Jennifer Pennell-Ajie
