Despite a couple of GPS glitches, the Town’s new transit system is picking up speed after its first four days of service.
I decided to book with Okotoks Transit on Dec. 5, beginning with downloading the phone app and setting up my account, then finding a ride. I chose to take the bus from my house in Cimarron across town to Motion Fitness for my daily workout.
The app seems fairly seamless. It’s set up similar to other ride-booking services, complete with a tracking system to show where the bus is while en route to your location. I’ve signed up for notifications, so when my stop was next a text let me know to be ready.
But that’s where things went – only slightly – awry. I could see the bus icon on my phone, inching its way closer to my house, and the app was telling me it was three…two…one minute away.
I even saw the bus on the next street over, but somehow the turn was missed and the bus disappeared. I thought maybe it would travel around the crescent and come back– but it didn’t seem to be moving that way according to the app.
Then I was notified my ride had arrived. Hmm…nope, no bus in the street I’m standing on.
So I checked my phone. Turns out the app had told my driver she had arrived at her destination, a house with the same number on a different street with a similar name, even though on both my phone and her screen the red marker was on my house, where I was, around the corner.
Luckily, I’m able-bodied and tech-savvy enough to know where the bus was likely waiting for me (it will wait for one minute), and I high-tailed it to the next street where my ride was sitting patiently outside a house that was not mine.
We had a laugh about the incident, my very friendly driver, Shannon, and I. She said there have been a few mishaps in the first days, as Google Maps has also tried to have her pick up people in the alleyways behind their houses rather than on their streets.
It’s all a work in progress, but Shannon said it’s definitely been busy, and picking up steam as the first week progresses.
She’s provided rides for everyone from seniors to people getting to work around town, students taking off from the junior high to get to McDonald’s for lunch, shoppers, and children getting to after-school activities.
While opening the door for me at the gym, she told me it’s a stop she’s made often.
Today she made it there at least twice, as I booked again toward the end of my workout to have the bus pick me up and deliver me back to my vehicle at home.
With about 15 minutes to go, I opened the app again and rebooked – though they must have been busy, because the time slot I was hoping for, which would have been about 20 minutes out, wasn’t available. So instead I purchased a ticket for 1:05 p.m., subjecting myself to an extra 10 minutes on the elliptical.
When the bus arrived, there was already another passenger on-board – Dave Gardner, the Town of Okotoks transit specialist.
He said the first week of service has been “going really nicely.”
“It’s growing nicely, and what I like, I’ve been riding here for about an hour and it’s pretty much been one ride after another,” said Gardner.
There were 27 rides on launch day, Dec. 2, he said. The next day there were 35, and by the third day 50 rides were booked. By 1 p.m. on Dec. 5 there had already been 42 passengers, and the system anticipated eight shared rides, which is what Gardner said is the main goal.
“I really want to see how the shared-ride algorithm works,” he said. “Until we start to get busy we’re not really going to know if this thing is working how it’s supposed to. You don’t want one person riding the vehicle all the time, that’s not the idea.”
Photographer Brent Calver and I did our best to try to create a shared-ride scenario, co-ordinating his purchase of a ticket with mine when I was leaving the gym. Though we were booked one ride apart (in five-minute intervals) and it appeared we would be on the same bus, the program rerouted the Town’s two buses to create the most efficient ride.
I ended up riding home alone (well, with Gardner) while Brent shared his ride from the Okotoks Museum and Archives with a young woman who had boarded before he did and was being dropped off after he was delivered to Save-On Foods.
While it wasn’t what we intended, it was interesting to see how the back end of the program worked to best accommodate the system’s ride requests.
We may try again once the system is busier, which Gardner expects won’t take too long at the rate it’s picking up already.
He said it’s interesting to see there are no peak times in Okotoks – the ride requests come regularly throughout the day from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. While most are during daytime hours, he said there isn’t exactly a rush hour push in town.
“There’s been no clear pattern of demand, it’s pretty spread out consistently through the day, which is fantastic,” said Gardner.
Increased popularity of the $2.75-per-ride Okotoks Transit won’t necessarily be good news for everyone.
Imran Azhar, owner of Okotoks Taxi, said he expects to see an affect on his business, though so far it’s hard to tell what that impact may be.
Since the transit system is in its infancy and people are just learning how to use it, he said he won’t know for at least a few weeks how much business he could lose.
“I’m sure it will affect our business,” said Azhar. “December month we will not find out, because it’s the busy month and Christmas is during this month, and New Year’s, and parties are happening this month.
“But in January, then it will affect us, definitely.”
