On Demand

We’ve seen a trend of growing ridership across the entire city, and Carrington and Livingston are no exception to this trend. This can sometimes lead to difficulty booking rides. Unfortunately we cannot provide an immediate solution to this.  We have future plans of expanding the capacity of our On Demand transit service,  and hope to be able to provide additional service in early 2024. We appreciate your patience with this and apologize for any inconveniences.

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.

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:

• Other customers not being able to book a trip;
• Buses going on long routes to pick-up passengers that aren't there;
• Degrading the overall customer experience; and
• Decreasing system capacity and customers’ ability to book trips during times of high demand.

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:

• Make sure you are at the correct pick-up location at the beginning of your ten-minute pick-up window.
• If your plans change, cancel your trip as soon as you can, and at least 30 minutes before your trip time.
• Only book one trip to get to your destination.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Carrington/Livingston:

• Monday to Friday: 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Saturday: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Sundays and holidays: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Vehicles operate between these hours only. Rides cannot be booked that would arrive or depart outside of service hours.

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.

Yes they can. Regular fares apply for youth taking transit.

• In accordance with Alberta car seat guidelines, you are responsible for providing a car seat or booster seat for children under 18 kg (40 lbs.), or under 6 years of age in Carrington/Livingston.

• You can bring luggage or grocery bags on board, but they cannot be placed on seats if other passengers require them. 
• You are responsible for loading/unloading your belongings.
• Pets are allowed in a small carrier, which must fit in the back of the van. Service animals do not need to be in a carrier. There is no cost for pets.
• There are currently no bike racks on vehicles and bikes are not permitted in vehicles, except for folding bikes folded in a bag.

• An accessible van that accommodates a wheelchair is available. There is an option to select this service when booking a ride.
• As with regular public transit service, the driver does not assist you in entering or exiting the vehicle, or from door-to-door.
• If you require door-to-door accessible transit service, please contact Calgary Transit Access 

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).

In Carrington and Livingston:

• The app will give you a pick-up location. It will be at a street curb; you cannot wait inside your house.

• At North Pointe there are two options for pick-up/drop-off points:
  • The transit hub on Country Village Link NE (behind Landmark Cinemas Country Hills and across from Notre Dame High School).
  • In front of the Good Earth Coffeehouse on the corner of Country Village Rd. and Country Village Link N.E.

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.

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. 

Yes the one person will be picked up and brought to their destination.

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 North Pointe transit hub, 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.

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.

• A single ride ticket is valid for 90 minutes from the time it’s validated
• A day pass is valid until 2 a.m. the day after it’s purchased
• A monthly pass is valid for a calendar month

Payment* for fares can be made by:

• Any Calgary Transit pass, ticket or transfer (including regular monthly passes, low income passes, senior yearly passes, and the UPass) – select the option in the app then show your pass/ticket to the driver.
• Using My Fare, our mobile ticketing app.

*Note: Cash cannot be used for payment in Carrington/Livingston. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Calgary Transit provides school express service inside and out of this pilot area and these routes will remain in place. 

To improve service for everyone, we ask customers to:

• Plan your trips well and allocate adequate time in between transfers
• If you can’t make a trip, make sure you cancel it versus keeping the trip and not showing up
• If you must cancel a trip, aim to cancel it at least 60 minutes prior to boarding