UTTRI associated faculty Professor Matti Siemiatycki commented on plans by BC transit authority TransLink to launch a pilot project on Bowen Island, population 3,500. The pilot project will introduce ride-booking to the island via a mobile app called TapRide.
“TransLink launching pilot project on Vancouver’s Bowen Island” appeared in The Globe and Mail British Columbia, July 14, 2019. The article also discusses innovative ways that public transit on-demand is already offered as a solution for areas of small population or times of low demand, such as Belleville and Innisfil, Ontario.
Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor of geography and planning at University of Toronto, said communities like Bowen Island and Innisfil are looking for ways to deal with the problems inherent with providing public transit in smaller places.
“You’re starting to see innovation starting across the country,” he said. “The traditional fixed-routes public transit service in lower-density smaller communities is going to be expensive and not necessarily financially viable, and maybe not even the best for the users, so they’re trying to come up with all sorts of alternatives.”
Read the complete article here.