Jim Stewart and his friend Mary visited Collingwood one weekend in May, purchased a senior transit pass at the library, and headed to the Pine Street Transit Terminal to get on a bus to take them to Northwinds Brewery on First Street.
“I thought we could hop on the Crosstown bus because it stops right there,” said Stewart. “The driver opens the bus door, and there was nobody on the bus. We pulled out our passes and he asked if we had a reservation.”
“He said he was sorry, but without a reservation he couldn’t take us,” said Stewart.
Stewart was a Collingwood resident for 15 years, but moved to Toronto in 2023 due to changing personal circumstances. He said he’s never had a problem before.
“I used the bus system a lot up there,” he said.
In 2023, the town started running Collingwood’s Crosstown bus on-demand only on weekends.
On-demand transit differs from conventional (route-based) transit because there is no fixed route or schedule. In an on-demand system, the buses are dispatched on a request basis by customers booking rides in advance. Rides can be booked as early as seven days in advance and up to 30 minutes before pickup. Rides can be booked via cell phone or landline by calling 705-446-1196 or through the Blaise website or mobile app. A free account is required.
The town may add more on-demand routes and dates down the road, however, the town has had difficulty hiring a full-time transit co-ordinator to oversee the transition so there hasn’t been a date set yet for further roll-out of the program.
In the meantime, the Crosstown bus route still runs solely on-demand on weekends.
“The on-demand rides do need to be booked through the app, so a rider can’t simply ask the driver on site,” explained the town’s director of public works, engineering and environment Peggy Slama in an email to CollingwoodToday. She noted that staff chose the crosstown route for the initial roll-out of on-demand transit because ridership for that route was low.
“It seems obvious that there might be opportunities to assist or improve this service, and that is something that staff can talk with Landmark about in their regular meetings, however the driver was following procedure as would have been communicated to them,” she said regarding Stewart's experience.
Slama said there are benefits to an on-demand transit model.
“On-demand allows us to provide a dedicated and more direct transit service while not having an empty bus drive around town with no riders,” she said. “The on-demand platform will allow for efficiencies in pick up/drop off of riders.”
While the program works in theory, in practice, Stewart said the changes aren’t helping the people who it is intended to serve.
“It’s public transit. I had a bus pass that I had just bought. It’s a public bus stop,” said Stewart. “I’ll use it again, but why would I make a reservation? How do I know I’m going to want to take the bus if I normally walk?”
“What happens to the tourists that come to town and don’t know that they have to make a reservation?”
Stewart said the driver was helpful and told him that the other buses would travel in that direction, but the closest stop to where he wanted to go was a block away.
“Why would I do that when I knew he went exactly where I wanted to go? The bus was empty,” he said.
After he and his friend walked away, Stewart said he saw two other people try to get on the crosstown bus, but were also turned away.
“His reservation list was empty,” said Stewart.
The town is currently working through creating a master mobility and transportation plan, which will outline how the town deals with transportation moving forward, including transit. To read more about that process and how you can get involved, click here.
