By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

After a five-month pilot project, Transdev has announced plans to make its on-demand shuttle service in Brome-Missisquoi permanent.

The shuttle service can pick up and drop off users at any one of 37 stops in Cowansville, Dunham, Frelighsburg, Sutton, Brome Lake, Bromont, Brigham, Ange-Gardien, Farnham, Bedford, Saint-Armand, Stanbridge East, Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, Stanbridge Station, Sainte-Sabine, Pile River and Abercorn. Riders can travel from one municipality to another and to the Autoparc 74 park-and-ride in Bromont where they can catch onward Limocar buses to Sherbrooke or Montreal.

During the “testing period,” which began in June, the service was free. As of Nov. 25, riders will have to pay $15 per ride ($30 for a round-trip ticket).

The shuttles run from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. seven days a week but do not have a fixed schedule; riders need to reserve at least an hour before their planned departure via the Link Transit On-Demand mobile app or the bilingual Transdev website (limocar.ca/brome-missisquoi) and the shuttle will come to them. Riders are advised to arrive at the stop at least 15 minutes before their scheduled departure, with proof of payment. Any changes or cancellations must be made at least an hour before the scheduled departure, and if a rider books a ride and does not show up at the scheduled time on more than three occasions, he or she may be blacklisted.

“We thank all the customers who have, in recent months, contributed to making the service more efficient and reliable and we promise that we will continue to improve the service in the coming months,” Danny Charpentier, head of Limocar operations at Transdev, said in a statement.

The changes to the service offered by Transdev will not affect the on-demand shuttle service already offered by the MRC, MRC Brome-Missisquoi communications co-ordinator Mariève Lebrun said.