The County of Wellington is rolling back its new rideshare program after a report last month from Director of Economic Development Crystal Ellis.
Vehicle hours for the county Ride Well program are being reduced from 210 hours to 155 weekly which cuts monthly costs by a little more than $7,000. The new schedule halves the number of vehicles to two from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Midday sees three vehicles in service, up from two.
“We looked at our data and recommendation from our partner RideCo, we’re just trying to suit demand as optimally as possible,” said James Vaclavek, County of Wellington economic development officer. “It doesn’t make sense to have four cars on the road when there is low demand.”
The service saw just under 400 rides from October to December last year but saw monthly growth. Vaclavek said he thinks it might be an awareness issue.
“I’ve been doing presentations since it launched and I can tell you the first few presentations I did back in November, I would get maybe one hand up if I asked if they’ve heard of Ride Well,” he said. “Now I’m getting almost the whole audience.”
The economic development office has been working on marketing the service through social media, radio ads, newspaper ads and presentations. Vaclavek said marketing’s next step is to make the message and target less general and more focused.
“Paid social media allows you to target a little bit deeper the audience that we’re hoping to hit,” he said.
The next phase of the project will see more integration with local businesses.
“Employers would pay into Ride Well and they would have a designated vehicle to pick up their staff and get them to work,” Vaclavek said. “It would be great to get cross-feedback to understand what their employee’s needs are, not just in terms of the employer service but as well for the regular service.”
Ride Well is funded by the Ontario government to increase transportation options in the county after a 2015 report found a gap in service. Large employers had expressed concern that they couldn’t attract talent to the area because potential candidates couldn’t get to work.
“Transportation and housing are kind of the two drivers to attract people to your county and support the ones that are already here,” he said.
The plan is flexible to allow vehicle hours to go back up if the demand is there. Vaclavek said he hopes the service will continue to see growth because of the impact he’s seen it have on the community.
“I get comments on Ride Well that say ‘Oh you saved me from getting a car, and I wouldn’t have been able to hold this job without Ride Well. I really hope this service keeps going,’” Vaclavek said. “It’s comments like those that reassure that this is a really important area to hit in the county.”
