Our refreshed 30-year planning document, RouteAhead, will be presented to the Infrastructure and Planning Committee on June 7. It guides us in providing transit service for Calgarians. Check out the RouteAhead plan and learn how you can share your comments at www.calgary.ca/routeahead.
Calgary Transit On Demand is a new way to provide transit service to communities that currently don’t have traditional bus service. The service allows customers to book travel as needed, to be picked up and dropped off at any of the existing stops in the community and other major locations (e.g. Westhills, 69 Street Station, grocery stores, large commercial areas, North Pointe transit hub and amenities).
The service is available in the Springbank Hill area (southwest communities of Aspen Woods, Christie Park, Strathcona Park, Signal Hill, Springbank Hill and Discovery Ridge), and the north communities of Carrington and Livingston.
On Demand provides full service for these communities, the flexibility to send shuttles where they’re needed, and when - on your schedule.
You can download the Calgary Transit On Demand app and set up your account any time that is convenient for you.
1: Enter your starting point and destination. Both must be in the West Calgary service area
2: Select the date and time you want to ride. Trips can be planned up to five days in advance.
3: Provide rider information (number of riders, adult/youth, wheelchair, etc.). The app will provide options for your trip, including the estimated time of arrival at your destination.
4: Select the ride you’d like to take.
5: Select your payment option (you can use any regular transit fare, including paper tickets or passes, or the My Fare mobile payment app).
6: Tap Book Now to finalize your booking.
7: You can view, change or cancel your booked trips in the My Trips section of the On Demand app.
Booking an On Demand trip by phone:
Call 403-262-1000. Make sure you are at your pick up location a couple of minutes before the pick-up time you were given. If you are not waiting at your stop at the beginning of the pick-up window, you may miss your bus.
If you need to cancel or reschedule your trip, just call 403-262-1000.
Taking your trip:
The app will let you know where and when to wait for your ride, so you just have to make sure you leave yourself enough time to walk to your pick up location. If you’d like, you can use the map within the app to make sure you’re heading to the right spot.
The app will allow you to see where your bus is and its estimated time of arrival at your pick-up location.
Once your ride arrives, board the vehicle as usual, showing the operator your proof of fare.
Booking an On Demand trip online:
1: Visit http://book.calgarytransit.rideco.com and sign in or register for a new account.
2: Select your community (if in the southwest, select "Calgary Southwest", if in the northwest, select "Carrington/Livington")
3: Enter your starting point and destination. If in the southwest, both points must be in the Springbank Hill area. If in the northwest, both points must be in the Carrington/Livingston zone (which includes the North Pointe Bus Terminal and Country Hills Village Shopping Centre).
4: Select the date and time you want to ride. Trips can be planned up to five days in advance.
5: Provide rider information (number of riders, adult/youth, wheelchair, etc.). You’ll be given options for your trip, including the estimated time of arrival at your destination.
6: Select the ride you’d like to take by clicking on the red button that indicates your fare for the trip.
7: Select your payment option (you can use any regular transit fare, including paper tickets or passes, or the My Fare mobile payment app. If using My Fare, select “Pass”).
8: Tap Book Now to finalize your booking.
9: Head out to your pick up location, giving yourself enough time to get there before the beginning of your pick-up window. If you are not waiting at your stop at the beginning of rht epick-up window, you may miss your bus.
10: Bringing children on board? Please review the rules for passengers under the age of 12 (scroll down to the "Children on board" section).
11: You can view, change or cancel your booked trips in the My Rides section of the page.
What can I expect for wait times and service?
This is a shared transportation service. That means there may be up to ten customers in the vehicle at one time, and rides may not be direct because the driver may pick-up/drop-off other customers on the way.
Once a ride is requested for pre-planned trips, we aim to arrive within 15-30 minutes. You’ll know in advance what time to wait for your ride.
For last-minute bookings, you may wait up to 30 minutes, which is comparable to the wait today, depending on what time you go to a bus stop. Wait times will vary depending on the time of day you’d like to book your trip. During peak times there may not be a vehicle available for a last-minute booking for 30-60 minutes. In the middle of the day, the wait times will be shorter.
For both pre-booked and last-minute trips, once you book a trip, the app will give you estimated times for pick-up and arrival at your destination. These times are estimates, and may change by up to six minutes. You will receive updates on arrival times in the app, and get a text message when your ride is close.
If we’re unable to provide a ride within 60 minutes of your requested time, you’ll be notified that we can’t provide a trip at this time.
When a ride is requested, you’ll be given a 10-minute pick-up window. If you have a smartphone with the app, you’ll be able to see where the bus is and where it is expected at the pick-up location. This means less waiting in the cold winter. However, please don’t be late (take a look at our no-show/cancellation information below).
The maximum time the vehicle will wait for you at your requested pick-up location is one minute.
No shows and cancellations
To ensure our service runs as smoothly as possible for as many customers as possible, we’ve introduced a No-show/Late Cancellation policy.
A small number of customers are booking multiple trips and not showing up for their trip, or they are cancelling their trips at the last minute after a bus has been dispatched to pick them up. This results in the following:
When a customer has more than 40% of their trips identified as a no-show or late cancellation (within 30 minutes of the pick-up time), they will experience limits on their account. The On Demand app will alert you through a message: “your ability to book trips has been limited for seven days. During this period you can only have two trips booked at one time.” For the next seven days you will only be able to have two trips in the system at one time, and you can only book three days in advance. This means you can book a trip for the morning, and the afternoon (two trips in the system at one time). Once you have completed the morning trip you will then be able to book one more trip, and so on.
Follow these tips to reduce no-shows and late cancellations:
These changes will not prevent any of our customers from accessing the On Demand service. It is a way of notifying the small percentage of customers who are using the system improperly that their behaviour is affecting all of our customers’ ability to book trips.
How far in advance can I book a trip?
You can book up to five days in advance, meaning you can book for all your trips for the work week (Monday to Friday) on Sunday.
What about booking an unplanned ride?
On Demand service should provide similar or better flexibility/spontaneity than fixed-route service. While pre-booking does require some planning in advance, our last-minute trip booking means that you don’t have to wait for the next scheduled bus to take a trip; instead you’ll book it as you need it.
For example, if you usually take a bus with service every 40 minutes in non-peak times and you want to take a trip during the day but just miss the stop time at your stop, you’ll have to wait 40 minutes for the next bus. With On Demand, your wait time will be 15-30 minutes, and will likely take you on a more direct route to your destination, since it won’t have to follow a fixed route or stop at timepoints along the way.
How will people without cell phones use the On Demand service?
We know that not all of our customers have access to a smartphone, and so we will have an option to book a trip online at calgarytransit.rideco.com, or by phoning our call centre at 403-262-1000. Our customer service staff will be able to book the trip and let our customers know where and when to wait for their ride.
What are On Demand's hours of operation?
Springbank Hills (SW):
Carrington/Livingston:
Vehicles operate between these hours only. Rides cannot be booked that would arrive or depart outside of service hours.
How can you ensure reliability and predictability?
The On Demand app will allow you to see exactly where your ride is while you wait, so you don’t have to worry that it has already come and gone or that it isn’t coming at all. Trips are planned by the app in advance, to take the fastest/best route for each trip or combination of trips. If there is a delay, you’ll get an update, so you always know what to expect.
Can children take On Demand?
Yes they can. Regular fares apply for youth taking transit.
Groceries, luggage, bikes and pets
Accessible service (wheelchairs, mobility aids, etc.)
Springbank Hill:
Will I need to transfer if I use On Demand transit?
This will depend on your origin and destination. If you’re traveling within the service area only, you won’t have to transfer; your On Demand vehicle will take you to your destination. If you’re traveling beyond the service area, you will need to transfer (e.g. to the CTrain).
Pick-up and drop-off points
In Springbank Hill:
In Carrington and Livingston:
How will you ensure that people boarding booked that shuttle?
If there are multiple people waiting at a stop, there may be more than one shuttle on its way to that stop. To ensure customers get on the right shuttle, the app will let customers know which vehicle to board, and the operator will confirm customers as they board. We don’t anticipate that our customers will intentionally board the wrong shuttle, as its trip will be customized to their destination. If they board the wrong one, they’ll be taken somewhere else.
How do I know which shuttle is mine?
Every shuttle has a vehicle number that you can see from the outside of the vehicle – the number is located above the door and at the rear of the shuttle.
The On Demand app will let you know which vehicle is coming for you on the “Track My Ride” screen and on the text message that is sent to you. See image.
If there is only one person booked, will they be picked up?
Yes the one person will be picked up and brought to their destination.
What do the On Demand routes look like?
The route for each trip is planned based on the needs of customers on that vehicle. For example, if there are eight customers on a vehicle who are all going to 69 St Station, the On Demand shuttle will take the most direct, fastest route to the station once those eight customers have been picked up.
This means that On Demand vehicles will sometimes take different routes to make each trip as efficient as possible. So you may see On Demand shuttles on smaller, residential streets, if they are the best route.
What is the cost for me to ride On Demand and how to I pay?
There is no additional cost for you to take an on demand trip; your regular transit fare is valid for your ride. Just like any other time you ride on Transit, you’ll need to ensure you have the right fare for your trip.
Payment* for fares can be made by:
*Note: Cash cannot be used for payment in Carrington/Livingston. We apologize for the inconvenience.
What kind of impact will On Demand have on school routes?
Calgary Transit provides school express service inside and out of this pilot area and these routes will remain in place. For schools that are within the West Calgary service area that do not have a school express, we will be monitoring the number of students using On Demand and see if it can handle the demand or if it would be more cost effective to add a school express route.
What can I do to ensure the service works for me?
To improve service for everyone, we ask customers to:
Why are you trying on demand transit service in this area?
Some of our established communities have very low ridership. This makes it expensive and inefficient to provide traditional bus service with set routes and fixed schedules. On demand, shared transportation service may provide an opportunity to introduce more cost-effective and efficient transit service to these communities.
Southwest Calgary was chosen primarily on ridership levels. While the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced ridership significantly in all areas of the city, this area had quite low levels even before the pandemic. As a result, we’re looking into whether using an on-demand model can be a cost-effective way to provide service to customers, which may prevent route cancellations in the future.
In the Northwest, for new communities under development where the population density is low, means there aren’t as many transit customers as there are in established communities. This makes it expensive and inefficient to provide traditional bus service with set routes and fixed schedules. On demand, shared transportation service may provide an opportunity to introduce cost-effective and efficient transit service sooner to developing communities.
Contact Us
Contact us if you have any questions or want to provide feedback on this service.