An ARGO transit bus was available for boarding during the recent “Burlington Community Traffic Forum”. During the event, our Ward 5 councillor announced that he will bring forward a motion to council to have Burlington conduct a pilot on-demand transit program with ARGO Transit.
Transit is the fourth-largest expense for the city. The 2026 budget allocates $26,575,000 for transit, up 7.3% from 2025.
Today, Burlington Transit operates on 13 fixed routes with varying service frequencies.
What is On-Demand transit?
Looking at the map of bus routes, you can see many areas where a rider would need to walk to a transit route. In transit terms, this is referred to as the “first mile”. Your destination may not be on a bus route. Again, you’re walking, and this is called the “last mile”.
With on-demand transit, you can request a ride using an app on your phone or by calling a phone number. Much like UBER or Lyft, software uses the start and end points of your trip to calculate the optimal route. Unlike UBER or Lyft, on-demand transit will combine your ride with other riders. You’re informed where to wait for the bus and when the bus will arrive. This solves the first-mile problem.
As an example, say you’re going from the Bateman Community Centre to the RBG Headquarters, all the way across town, you might take an on-demand bus from Bateman to the Appleby Go Station and then a large Burlington Transit bus from Appleby Go to Aldershot Go, and then an on-demand bus for the last mile, to the RBG. While this may sound arduous, the same trip today on public transit takes 1 hour, requires 2 buses, and involves 18 minutes of walking.
ARGO’s bold vision statement is:
“A future where public transit is faster than driving a car but as affordable as taking the bus.”
ARGO:
- Solves the first mile problem by picking you up near the starting point of your trip, your home, office, etc.
- Can be integrated with Burlington Transit by collecting people from where they are and taking them to their destination or a transit hub. In this scenario, Burlington Transit operates large buses that connect hubs, running more frequently than they do today.
- Integrates with PRESTO and can be set up to use the current Burlington fare structure, including free transit for seniors and Halton’s SPLIT program.
- Has been operating in Bradford, West Gwillimbury (population 48,600) for over a year.
- Overall transit use has doubled.
- Trips on transit to the Go Station have increased 5 fold.
- ARGO is operating a trial in downtown Brampton.
Is ARGO the only option?
ARGO, an Ontario company, is not the only supplier of On-Demand Transit. VIA (https://ridewithvia.com/), a US company, is perhaps the largest supplier globally.
Sioux Falls, SD, with a population of around 225,000, introduced on-demand transit in 2024. This statement summarizes the Sioux Falls experience:
“This partnership has led to high-frequency buses and citywide microtransit, expanding transit to 100% of Sioux Falls. The results? A 25% reduction in cost-per-ride, a 37% increase in fixed route ridership, and nearly double the job access for all residents within one hour – all on a neutral budget.”
https://ridewithvia.com/resources/how-sioux-falls-doubled-job-access-while-lowering-cost-per-ride
Sioux Falls has some similarities to Burlington and, after 2 years, is seeing improvements with on-demand transit.
This 2025 report outlines the state of the on-demand transit market worldwide.
https://lukas-foljanty.medium.com/on-demand-transit-market-report-midyear-2025-9255ac28e295
Will Burlington give ARGO or a similar service a try?
ARGO manages its own fleet and personnel, removing the need for City of Burlington staff involvement. ARGO owns the buses, does the maintenance, employs and pays the drivers, and manages the software. A pilot project in Burlington would not require the city to buy any buses.
One obstacle to adoption is political; Council’s reliance on the existing civil service may make it difficult to approve external programs, even when they offer clear advantages. Something as simple as whether ARGO shares trip data with the city may delay or scuttle the deal. Does the city need to know I took an ARGO bus home from the Poacher last Friday? Staff may argue that, without data, how can they influence ARGO’s bus placement, and ARGO may argue that bus placements are optimized by their algorithms.
Burlington Transit has plans to grow by 288 staff members over the next 30 years. This growth requires additional space in the $221 million (estimated) expansion to the “Cumberland Campus” on Harvester Rd. Outsourcing a portion of transit to a company like ARGO may affect Burlington Transit’s future growth.
Projected 30-year growth plans
Foundational to arguments about data or outsourcing are jobs. Delivering cost-effective, faster transit may have to take a back seat to the needs of City Hall’s full-time employees, especially unionized transit workers.
Based on the Sioux Falls experience, increasing the frequency of large Burlington Transit buses connecting transit hubs, combined with higher fare revenue from increased ridership, should result in few changes to the existing transit organization. Garbage collection is an example of a municipal service (Halton) that has been successfully outsourced.
One option for the $221 million expansion of the Cumberland Campus on Harvester Rd.
The devil is in the details. Service agreements with ARGO or another supplier should protect taxpayers’ interests. Every city is different, and the experiences in Brampton, Bradford, and Sioux Falls may not apply to Burlington. A pilot or trial, as a supplement to existing services, makes a lot of sense to minimize risk. Burlington can’t buy an ARGO bus, use it for a year, and then discontinue the pilot. Fortunately, ARGO provides the bus and takes it back if the pilot is discontinued.
Caledon has just signed up for a cost-neutral pilot with ARGO.
Will Burlington try something new, or will we continue with the status quo? A question to contemplate the next time you’re stuck in traffic or waiting for a bus.
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