Mixed results from Waterloo rideshare pilot

A pilot program that endeavoured to get more people out of their cars and onto public transit didn't work as well as some had hoped.

The initiative was a partnership between Grand River Transit and the University of Waterloo. 

Chris Bachmann is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UW, and joined the Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS on Tuesday. 

“We used RideCo – which is a local ridesourcing company – to bring people to transit. So these are neighbourhoods where they don't have transit stops, or it's a little bit too far to walk to their nearest transit stop. So it allowed them to use their regular fixed-route transit system.”

Bachmann said the project really looked at tackling the 'last mile' – which is a term that describes the beginning or end of one's route, like walking to a bus stop or walking from one to work or school. 

“The first mile, last mile is the real problem. It's especially a problem when you have these kind of low density suburbs. We're talking mostly about detached homes. They don't generate enough demand to have regular fixed-route transit. As a consequence of that, they have very poor access and egress to the transit system.”

In terms of the results, Bachmann said they were mixed. 

“We compared the trips that people were making, with what they would've had to have done if the pilot didn't exist. What we found is that people using the pilot benefited from it, in the sense that their travel time was reduced.”

However, overall usage was low and some people were abusing the system. 

“In some cases, they were integrating well into the transit system … but in other cases, they were actually duplicating the transit system. In other words, they were using that [rideshare] to travel between two virtual stops that we put it in … and bypassing the system altogether, which is unfortunate.”

Bachmann said it's a difficult problem to address, as how people choose their mode of transportation is very complicated.

“Once someone's bought an automobile, they're obviously predisposed to use that for the majority of their trips. So if you live in a neighbourhood where you have to buy an automobile because you're not close to transit, you've kind of already made the choice that most of your trips will be made with your car.”

Bachmann added there are other things that can be attempted to try to encourage transit use. 

“Here in [Waterloo Region], we are quite progressive in piloting different options. They're doing various bike lane treatments to assess the impact on cycling. I see our pilot as kind of a first step, looking at these kind of new mobility paradigms. There was also a scooter pilot done here in the region. The honest trust is there's no silver bullet solution to transportation problems in general. I wish there was, but there isn't and it's a very difficult problem to solve.”

Bachmann said UW will continue to do research on travel and transit, “It's just a progression, it's about doing experiments and pilots, and trying to pull the levers we can to shape people's behaviour.”