Okotoks council will soon be weighing the options for a public transit system in town.

And one of the options that was presented to council for consideration last month is an On-It, on demand model.

Town of Okotoks Chief Administrative Officer Elaine Vincent says it's an innovative system based on user demand.

"The on-demand transit system is very similar to an Uber-like model where you say here's where I'm at, here's where I want to go," Vincent explains. " And when we design the system, we have a couple of different ways that we can do it. We can design the system as either door-to-door or we can design the system pickup-point-to-pickup-point."

As riders dial-in their pick-up locations and desired destinations, either online or over the phone, buses can be coordinated and routed to best meet those transit needs. Vincent points out that research has shown that Okotoks' population isn't currently large enough to make the use of full-sized buses viable. Instead, there's an option for smaller buses to cut down on costs.

"Everyone sees their tax dollars when they see those big buses going around empty," she says. "That's probably not the model that we would recommend moving forward. We do see the smaller, cutaway buses, we do see them being 100 percent accessible, which is a critical component, and then the operating costs are greatly reduced because of that."

Vincent says data collected from an on-demand pilot project could contribute to future plans for public transit in Okotoks, including a possible combination of on-demand and fixed route transit.

She explains that last year, council approved the two-pronged On-It transit pilot, which included a regional commuter into the South Calgary LRT station as well as a local transit system. Vincent notes that when the local transit aspect was deemed no longer viable, council instructed administration to research public transit system alternatives that might "better meet the needs of Okotokians."

Council is expected to be considering several public transit system pilot scenarios, for possible inclusion in the 2018 operating budget, before the end of the year.

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