Cochrane residents aren't the only ones with their eyes on the new transit system the town intends to unfold by next fall. The cutting-edge on-demand system has caught the interest of other municipalities and transit officials across North America.

Transit analyst Devin LeFleche says the system town council approved Nov. 27 for a five-year pilot will be the first of its kind in North America and he's been receiving a steady stream of inquiries.

"We’ve already received a couple of informal invitations to speak to a couple of different national organizations for transit," says LeFleche. "They want to see what Cochrane’s doing. We’ve also had quite a few different transit agencies contacting us to say they’re interested in doing it."

"The great thing is our contractor, Southland, is also really interested in sharing the message and working collaboratively to share what we’re doing to build up a lot of interest in Cochrane as well as the on-demand system. It’s exciting for them as well because this seems to be where the industry is headed and they can really use Cochrane as a showpiece."

Cochrane's on-demand system will utilize the Tripshot ride-hailing software to create bus routes based on the most efficient route to pick-up and drop-off riders. That, explains, LeFleche, means the route mapping will be based upon demand and readily adaptable. 

Users can book trips via a smartphone app, dedicated website, or calling in over the phone. They can be booked days in advance or last minute. The advantage of booking early is the on-demand route will be built around you, explains LeFleche, and will create a schedule that provides assurance that you will arrive at your destination on schedule.

There will be some door-to-door service to strategic points, like senior homes, the rec centre and the Boys and Girls Club.

It will also provide riders real-time time information on the location of the bus, available space (bicycle rack, wheelchair space, seats, etc.) and delays. Riders will be able to follow where the bus is on a map and be notified when to go to the bus stop to meet the bus.

In addition to transit routes, the platform will display routes for walking and biking and include information on taxis, shuttles and uber-type services.

"Cochrane will really be the first that goes on to a completely on-demand system, look at where the actual demand is and then build the route that is actually required," LeFleche explains. 

"The on-demand technology has been there for a while it’s just transit agencies have been a little bit slower to adopt it as their service model."

Being at ground-level for transit at this time is advantageous for Cochrane. It's much easier than in communities which are facing the challenge of transitioning from existing inflexible and costlier transit systems.

"With Cochrane, it’s quite great that we can actually start everybody out on this system and this will be the system they know and will use."

He is also confident the efficiencies that are inherent to the system will work within the town’s annual $600,000 budget.

"We have room to grow and demand can increase without us actually needing to expand the service with more buses."

Working within the budget weighs heavily upon the mind of Town Councillor Alex Reed, one of the two councillors opposing transit because of budgetary concerns.

"My concerns are totally about the additional financial burden this will place on the taxpayers of Cochrane over the next decade, which will become painfully apparent once all the “free” money is used up and if the administration continues to come back to Council for more money during the pilot phase of this. In combination with this, I am concerned that if this pilot is unsuccessful, again this is only a pilot,  it will be next to impossible to take this service away."

Jonathan Weal, regional director for Southland Transportation, is impressed with how forward-thinking Cochrane is about transit.

"Cochrane definitely will be the first people in Canada and probably the first in North America to have a service like this," says Weal. "There are a number of larger cities coming behind them that are already talking about the same sort of service but Cochrane is going to get there first."

Weal says Southland put a lot of work into their proposal to meet the plan laid out by the town.

"It was a great opportunity to work very much at the forefront of the cutting edge and to see where technology is leading us in the future in transportation."