A new partnership between Collingwood, the Town of Wasaga Beach, and Clearview Township will bring accessible transit to the doors of residents who need it.
Announced last week, the three municipalities have signed a joint contract with Landmark Bus to provide accessible transit, which will be called TransitPLUS. In Wasaga Beach and Clearview, this contract will mark the first time accessible transit will be provided through their town services, and will launch in November. In Collingwood, the contract will replace the existing town contracts with Red Cross and Ace Cabs for accessible transit, and will roll out in mid-December.
“I think this is going to be good for the municipalities,” said Kris Wiszniak, operations and transit co-ordinator with the Town of Collingwood. “Having this contract gives us a lot more flexibility on how we run the service.”
TransitPLUS will be a door-to-door service. Riders will be required to pre-register by calling Landmark Bus at 705-446-1196 or emailing [email protected]. The town is advising riders to call or email to register as soon as possible.
Fares one way are $2 for adults and $1.50 for students and seniors. The service will operate from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Pre-booked rides will take precedence. Same-day calls will be served based on a first-come-first-serve model.
“Once Clearview and Wasaga Beach are up and running, we are going to transition our Red Cross service into theirs,” he said, adding that the timeline is intended to cause as little disruption to Collingwood’s existing users as possible.
“If we had done it individually, we would be paying significantly more per municipality,” he said. “That was our motive behind it.”
Another benefit Wiszniak notes is the town will have more flexibility to adjust the service if problems arise, whereas Collingwood’s previous arrangement through Red Cross didn’t allow that flexibility.
“Red Cross is a third-party operator and a national organization with their own policies, procedures and standards,” he said. “We were limited on how often we could run the bus, who could ride the bus and how many people could get on the bus. As we’re running it, we can tailor it more to an urban-style specialized transit.”
Wiszniak said the three municipalities all have separate contracts for their regular transit services, but that it made sense to look into a regional approach for the accessible service to find efficiencies. Cross-boundary travel will also be a possibility through the new accessible model.
“The costs are pretty high, and the ridership of it is kind of an unknown factor right now with Wasaga and Clearview not having a current service,” he said. “We thought it would be best to do something together.”
A new, on-demand transit service in Collingwood was first suggested last October based on recommendations out of the Transit Service Review and Optimization Study completed by consultant IBI Group.
Council voted through the change in December 2021 for plans at that time for it to roll out in the summer of 2022 with a phased fare hike.
On-demand service would mean riders would book rides online in advance and buses would only be deployed for requested rides. The option to re-introduce regular routes into the service at a future date is still on the table under the on-demand system, should staff find certain routes are regularly full.
A switch to on-demand will also mean previously un-serviced areas in Collingwood’s south end will now be eligible to receive transit.
The value of a new five-year contract for all transit services in Collingwood including the Blue Mountain link is estimated at $6.4 million, however Wiszniak notes that is the contract value and doesn’t take revenue (such as fares and provincial gas tax revenues) into account.
When asked this week about the delayed roll-out of on-demand transit, Wiszniak said a phased implementation is still planned, starting with evenings and weekends.
“We had delays this year with the procurement of our contract,” he said. “Our overall transit contract was very substantial. We didn’t move forward with the signing of the contract... until September.”
Wiszniak said the town is currently waiting on bids for the on-demand software through their procurement process.
“It’s moving along,” he said, adding the new target for rollout is early 2023. “Our ridership is starting to bolster again.”
Once Collingwood’s on-demand transit service is up and running, Wiszniak says plans are underway to integrate the new accessible transit booking options into the regular on-demand transit app.
“We will integrate it into the technology platform that will allow riders to book through the app,” he clarified.
For more information on TransitPLUS and transit in Collingwood, click here.
