Fort Erie transit services expand with new on-demand options and extended hours

Changes to Fort Erie’s transit services will ideally keep more vans in town while also increasing capacity for riders.

The Niagara Transit Commission announced changes to its MicroTransit services, which mostly came into effect earlier this month.

Fort Erie Accessible Specialized Transit (FAST) service switched over to Voyago, a company that will be providing NRT (Niagara Region Transit) OnDemand services for the entire region.

The Fort Erie On-Demand Transit service will switch over to Voyago on October 1 when the current contract with Regional Limousine ends.

For the time being, much of the service in town will remain familiar to riders, Niagara Transit Commission’s General Manager Carla Stout said. An app has been added for the FAST service, for riders who prefer to use it.

Two major changes to the on-demand service include moving the connection point for those wanting to go to Port Colborne to the Leisureplex, so that it matches the connection point for intermunicipal transit to Niagara Square.

The second change will be increased hours, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. There will still be no service on Sundays and holidays, as they don’t have the funding to provide it, Stout said.

“It’s now changed to the Fort Erie Leisureplex so there’s a connection not only to the IMT (intermunicipal transit) Route 25 to the Niagara Square, but that’s now also going to be the connection point to Port Colborne city hall as well,” Stout said.

These changes are meant to increase capacity in Fort Erie, which Stout said has experienced significant growth for both the on-demand and the specialized transit services.

“It’s keeping more cars working inside of Fort Erie instead of sending them out,” Stout said. “It creates capacity in Fort Erie where they’re struggling with that.”

In recent years annual ride totals in Fort Erie have increased from 45,000 to 90,000.

“So they’ve doubled, but the number of vehicles hasn’t,” she said.

Stout said there’s still some confusion with how the transit services work in Niagara. To help clear it up, they’ve created a page on the NRT website for MicroTransit, which is the kind of service offered in Fort Erie.

Stout said OnDemand is a bit of a misleading name, as it evokes ideas of it being like a taxi.

“It’s not a ride hailing service,” she said. “This is a pre-booked service where you book your trips in advance.”

They’ve also increased customer service resources, as the recent and upcoming changes have generated a lot of questions and interest. They’re currently getting upwards of 30 calls a day from people looking to register with the specialized transit service across Niagara.

“We know that people need the information,” she said.

So far Stout said the reports from other communities that switched over their on-demand service to Voyago at the start of July have been positive. She said it’ll help having one company providing all the MicroTransit service across the region.

That will also mean that FAST riders will be sharing rides with on-demand riders, all with the goal to have more full vans taking people where they want to go.

With demand increasing, Stout said they’re planning to present some options to regional council to increase the number of vehicles they have on the road. In the meantime, Stout hopes increased hours, consolidated meeting points and ensuring more vans are travelling around Fort Erie with more than just one rider will help address capacity issues.

More information is available at nrtransit.ca.

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