Saint John continues its plans to transform transit within the city.
The changes are leading to better-to-use transit services, according to the director of transit and fleet.
“We’ve pretty much completed all of our plans over the last 12 months, and now we are in the phase of implementation,” Ian Fogan said in an interview this week.
Part of the implementation includes introducing six 20-foot Karzan Jest buses with a 12-passenger capacity.
According to Fogan, the new buses will be used for on-demand transit services in the city.
“They are scheduled to arrive in Atlantic Canada on the first week of November, and then there will be a few weeks for fit up, then we’ll do some driver training, and you’ll see those in service probably the first week of January,” said Fogan.
Fogan said parts of the city’s west side will be the first to see on-demand transit.
Instead of having a bus travel around a long route that might only pick up a few passengers, it would pick up passengers at a requested stop and take them to where they need to go within the particular zone.
“It doesn’t follow a fixed route, instead it’s what they call dynamic routing, which cuts down on travel time, and also cuts unnecessary bus travel, and provides a much quicker response,” said Fogan.
“This system will probably start in January on the west side in the Churchill, Milford, and Greendale areas, and we’ll expand the service hours to make it available earlier in the morning and later in the evening.”
Fogan noted the electronic systems and the software to implement on-demand service is ready to go.
Since the summer, the city has run a pilot for a 40-foot BYD KZ bus, which can hold up to 41 passengers.
Fogan said the bus is under a six-month lease from BYD, the world’s leading battery-electric bus manufacturer with more than 50,000 vehicles on the road worldwide.
“What we wanted to do is put it out in service and see how it works, and by looking at how it functions we’re going to write our specifications and our requirements on what those larger electric buses will look like, and then we’ll get to work on trying to find more in the future,” he said.
Saint John Transit is also introducing electronic fare options, giving passengers more flexibility in how they pay for their trips.
However, those who want to pay by cash will still be able to do so.
Fogan added only offering cash payment options has been a burden to both passengers and transit staff.
“Being able to offer electronic fare payments on transit will make using it a lot easier because people don’t have to worry about having the exact fare or being able to make change, so this will cut down on all of that,” he said.
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