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The Lunch Express Pilot Project is a Success

The ‘Lunch Express’ pilot project was officially launched on Friday December 8, 2006 and was scheduled to end on Friday March 23, 2007. Initial funding for the pilot program came from the Markham Environmental Sustainability Fund and the Town of Richmond Hill. During the initial pilot project period close to 500 individual passengers used the service and the peak use day was Friday. Over the course of the pilot project approximately 3,224 kilometres of vehicle travel was reduced which represents 600 kilograms of CO2 emissions.

Feedback received from users through rider surveys and questionnaires revealed that 80% of ‘Lunch Express’ riders have access to a motor vehicle during the day and that convenience was cited as the primary reason for using the service. Further, the ‘Lunch Express’ made half of them (50%) think differently about their current mode of travel for their commute to work and 70% would be willing to pay $1 to use the service for a round trip.

Restaurants and retailers in the service area have been participating by supporting the ‘Lunch Express’ through promotional efforts and they’ve been providing customers with incentives to use the ‘Lunch Express’ such as meal discounts and lunch coupons. The commercial sector have also been engaged through a number of stakeholder consultations to consider sponsoring/underwriting the operating costs of the ‘Lunch Express’ service and further consultations are required to firm up their support.

Since results to date have been encouraging and based on feed back from ‘Lunch Express’ passengers and the restaurant and commercial participants, Smart Commute 404-7 TMA is recommending that the pilot project be extended for a period of 6 months beginning on Friday March 30, 2007 and ending September 28, 2007, and that based on boarding counts the Thursday service be eliminated so that the ‘Lunch Express’ operates on Friday only.

 

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