While it’s been deemed an early success, a City of Airdrie transit representative acknowledged the Hello to Go transit model has been “over-subscribed” and faced challenges in its first six months of implementation.
During their regular meeting on Dec. 5, Airdrie City council unanimously approved transitioning the Hello to Go transit service from curb-to-curb to stop-to-stop for all public customers and to expand the downtown commuter service with one additional morning and afternoon trip beginning in early 2023.
The decision followed a presentation from Chris MacIsaac, team leader of Airdrie Transit, who provided council with an update on Airdrie’s public transit service levels and proposed changes based on productivity targets.
He said the evening’s presentation follows a series of reports to council restoring and resuming many of the City’s transit services that were impacted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have a bit of an evolution happening with our services,” MacIsaac said during the presentation. “We made an alteration to the way we deliver services earlier this summer with the restoration of our on-demand transit program, Hello to Go.”
According to the transit team leader, the program has been “highly successful,” but has also experienced several challenges since it was implemented in July, operating as a shared-ride, curb-to-curb, co-mingled service for public transit users and Access Airdrie para-transit clients.
Currently, subscribers to the program will benefit from curbside pick-up at their location and direct transport to their desired destination.
“This on-demand service was implemented to replace under-performing fixed routes which were not achieving minimum service productivity targets,” read the council agenda report for the Dec. 5 council meeting. “The service has been successful in attracting customers.”
As such, MacIsaac told council the Hello to Go program is currently oversubscribed.
“Any given day, we are turning away almost 75 per cent of the trips that are being searched for,” he said. “We’re providing a very high level of service. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live.
“While that is a very great service for any customer, it comes with its inherent challenges.”
MacIsaac noted some of those challenges include difficulty providing service availability to customers, as the direct nature of the program reduces the number of customers who can be helped.
He added the program, operating as it currently does, is starting to have a negative impact on the department’s overall operating performance.
“Vehicles are not operating on time, and unfortunately we’re becoming immobilized in parts of our community that may not have snow clearance,” he said. “We’re really looking at ways to reduce those impacts to customers. The curb-to-curb model has its challenges to meet that outcome.”
MacIsaac said the proposed stop-to-stop model would operate on pre-determined roadways, and would still offer convenience to its customers, as the stops will be in both residential and business areas.
“A stop-to-stop model would involve customers walking approximately 400 metres or five minutes to a designated pick-up,” read the agenda report. “This change would be for public customers only.”
The stop-to-stop model will include more than 260 total bus stops covering the urban area of the city, including existing bus stops and the introduction of new, virtual bus stops.
Virtual bus stops “will not have the physical infrastructure seen at traditional bus stops such as signage or benches,” the report continued.
“Instead, customers are provided with directions to access these stops located on local collector roads via the Hello to Go app or when booking via the City call centre,” it read.
Also, in July of this year, the municipality resumed previously cancelled fixed route service and reduced Hello to Go wait times to improve service availability.
According to the City’s report, this shift “provided some temporary relief and additional and incremental strategies are required to improve service availability and performance.”
Changes made previously to service delivery were made in line with the City’s Transit Master Plan (TMP) that establishes criteria regarding service productivity and performance measures to guide changes in levels of service.
Additionally, Airdrie Transit provides three morning and afternoon trips to and from downtown Calgary. MacIsaac said the popularity of the inter-city express (ICE) commuter service has seen an increase in demand, with Airdrie-to-Calgary commuters voicing the desire for additional trips in and out of the community.
He said these services have experienced steady growth since mid-2022 and have surpassed the City’s service productivity target consistently since the start of September.
As such, the administration has proposed a service level increase in the 2023 operating budget.
“We would [like to] see an increase in levels of service that would support the growth of our downtown commuter service,” MacIsaac said, adding he hopes to see the changes implemented by the end of January 2023.
Following the presentation, Coun. Heather Spearman noted she is excited to see an increase in demand for the downtown commuter services, but is sad to see the door-to-door Hello to Go service retired.
“It crushes my soul a little bit to see the door-to-door service go away, but I understand the volume – I totally get it,” she said.
