Transit & TNCs

Innisfil, population 32,727 as of 2014, concluded in a March council meeting that subsidizing the car-hailing service was a better deal than paying for a bus line. The city plans to pay 100,000 Canadian dollars (about $75,000) for a first stage of the program and CA$125,000 for a second round about 6 to 9 months in. That compares to CA$270,000 annually for one bus and CA$610,000 for two, the town said. The town evaluated on-demand transit proposals as an alternative to buses. "Uber emerged as the only company with an app-based platform (i.e. UberPool) that would facilitate ridesharing and the matching of two or more passengers on trips across the entire town," the town said in its explanation of the move. Innisfil will subsidize Uber trips so citizens pay between CA$3 and CA$5 themselves, depending on the destination, the town said. "You can't have taxpayers pay for a transit system which they cannot use," Innisfil Mayor Gord Wauchope told The Toronto Star. "And this was a transit system that people can get from anywhere in the town of Innisfil, and use it for a reasonable price."

Sacramento light rail announces arena partnership with Uber, Lyft, Yellow Cab

Regional Transit and city officials have announced several last-minute efforts to make travel easier to and from the downtown Golden 1 Center, which will open Tuesday night with a Paul McCartney concert.

RT, which plans to extend light-rail service later on arena event nights, announced an agreement Monday with three ride-sharing companies, Uber, Lyft and Yellow Cab, for up to $5 off rides for people who use one of those services to go to or from six selected light-rail stations on event nights this year.

The six stations are Roseville Road, Florin, Franklin, Watt/Manlove, Sunrise and Power Inn. Each station will have RT guides to help out beginner riders. RT officials say they believe some suburban residents might choose to leave their cars at home and take ride-sharing services to light-rail stations, then board trains to the downtown arena.

“We decided, instead of looking at each other as competitors, let’s embrace roles and work as partners,” said Folsom City Councilman Andy Morin, an RT board member.

Ride-sharing companies also plan to take people directly to the arena. The city has set up three drop-off and pick-up zones nearby.

For information about RT’s collaboration with ride-sharing companies, go to www.sacrt.com/stationlink.stm.

Riders can purchase tickets at fare machines on train station platforms at each station. RT officials, however, advise riders to download the RideSacRT app beforehand, and purchase tickets on the app. A single ride ticket costs $2.75. A round-trip discount pass for up to four people will cost $14 for the group.

A partnership between Durham-based transit technology company TransLoc, public transit agency GoTriangle and Uber may one day help better connect commuters to public transportation, particularly in more suburban areas.

The Triangle recently became the first market for TransLoc’s Uber upgrade to its bus and transit tracking mobile app. Through the app, called TransLoc Rider, passengers can plan their route and book an Uber to cover the trip to or from the bus stop.

The impact has yet to show up in GoTriangle’s ridership numbers, which hover around 1.8 million passengers per year between 2013 and 2016. A customer service survey conducted by GoTriangle in 2016 found that about 8 percent of GoTriangle riders said they had used an Uber or Lyft in conjunction with a bus trip in the previous 30 days.

Officials said partnerships like this will be increasingly important to provide seamless mobility for everyone as bus services – and the boundaries of the Triangle – continue to push out in all directions.

“Our pilot with GoTriangle has proved to be another step toward overcoming the first-mile, last-mile obstacle many people outside urban centers face when trying to access public transit,” said Josh Cohen, TransLoc’s director of strategy and partnerships.

The TransLoc Rider app allows people to find the best route to get from place to place, whether that be through public transit, walking, Uber or a combination, as well as where their bus is and how soon it will arrive. Evelyn Cashen of public relations firm Antenna Group, representing TransLoc, said 105,000 people used Rider between February 2016 and 2017, but the company is not sharing figures for the number of people who used Uber during that time.

“The added value of the pilot is not about the specific numbers of people who are using transit and Uber but the ability to seamlessly integrate another transit mode that makes trip planning even easier for our riders,” said Mike Charbonneau, GoTriangle director of marketing and communications.

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