On Demand Transit service will be created for a two year pilot project

By Gazette Staff

April 21st, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

Burlington is going to run a pilot program that will explore how on-demand transit could be incorporated into Burlington Transit’s fixed route

Once all the deep thinking has been done, the pilot will run for 24 months.

The Director of Transit is tasked with figuring out how on-demand transit could be phased into the current city transit service.

The problem at this point is that there are not enough HandiVans to meet the demand.  Discussion at Council seemed to be focused on using HandiVan type vehicles that would be used for the two year pilot.

The Director of Transit will report back to Council by Q4 2026 with:

• Service design options,
• Financial implications,
• Technology requirements,
• Performance metrics,
• Risk assessment,
• Implementation timeline; and

Direct the Director of Transit to include an analysis of how the pilot could:

Increase vehicle capacity utilization;

Improve overall community mobility access;

Increase satisfaction among both existing riders and non-riders;

Reduce per-trip subsidy over time

The Gazette is going to work with Bfast to pull together views and ideas on what the public thinks and would like to see in the way of an on-demand service.