Operating extra like a taxi within the pandemic, Ride Well is meant to shift again to ridesharing
WELLINGTON COUNTY – The county’s ridesharing program has seen important growth since being launched and the county’s financial director is anticipating additional growth as pandemic restrictions ease.
Crystal Ellis, the county’s director of financial growth, defined in an interview Ride Well must be shifting again to its original intention. An financial growth report mentioned the purpose is to revert again to the original model by late spring.
Ride Well is the county’s ridesharing program comparable to Uber serving journeys that begin or finish in Wellington County however can embody Guelph.
When launched in October 2019, the service was supposed to pair separate riders that had been shut collectively or going the identical path into the identical automotive for effectivity.
This all got here to a halt when the pandemic struck and the service has been working extra like a taxi since March 2020.
Despite this setback, Ellis mentioned this new service has been ready to develop in ridership in its two-plus years.
“When we look at our 2020 numbers compared to 2021, we doubled the number of rides that we were able to service from one year to the next,” Ellis mentioned.
However, Ellis mentioned the plan is to shift again to working within the original method as a result of pandemic restrictions being nearly absolutely lifted ought to enable for this to be achieved safely.
She mentioned reverting again to this might doubtlessly lead to having the ability to service extra individuals and rides due to operational effectivity.
“Instead of currently, where if it’s just one booking and somebody else is doing that same sort of trip, it would leave one person not able to book in, or they’d have to wait for that car to come back around,” Ellis mentioned.
She mentioned at this level they aren’t wanting to broaden the service past Wellington County however are centered on rising by extra county residents utilizing the service.
“I think the growth will come with being able to service more rides and more people and that’s where we’ll increase the amount of vehicle hours we have operating daily,” Ellis mentioned.
Learn extra about Ride Well right here.