Case Study: North Bay Transit achieves 18% fewer vehicle miles and improved evening/weekend service with Via

Increasing public transit efficiency in times of lower demand

North Bay Transit faced steep drops in evening and weekend ridership that left six fixed-route buses underutilized and offered infrequent, hourly service. In January 2021 North Bay Transit partnered with Via to launch myRideNB, a hybrid on-demand plus fixed-route service designed to expand coverage and replace underperforming fixed routes during low-demand periods.

Via implemented a dynamic model where its booking algorithm assigns trips to three on-demand buses or two scheduled fixed-route buses and provides multimodal transfer guidance. In the first three months myRideNB completed more than 6,500 rides (about 230 rides on Sundays and 75 daily on weekdays), cut average wait times to 16 minutes from hourly service, reduced vehicle miles by 18%, and lowered the number of vehicles needed by 17%.

North Bay Transit

Drew Poeta

Transit Manager