City of St. Thomas

Parallel Transit is a personalized door-to-door transportation service operating in the City of St. Thomas within city limits for use by persons with disabilities who are unable to use St. Thomas Transit conventional fixed route service. 

Parallel Transit may be used for any purpose: employment, medical, personal business or leisure activities. Priorities in booking are given in the above order.

Anyone interested in using Parallel Transit must complete a City of St. Thomas Application.  Please bring your completed application form to the Environmental Services Department at City Hall between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday. 

This form is also available from the Environmental Services Department at City Hall, or by mail by calling 631-1680 ext. 4161 and requesting that an application form be sent out. 

The form can be completed and signed by the applicant or any other designated person on behalf of the applicant if he/she is incapable of signing. 

Parallel Transit fees are as follows: 

	Effective March 1st 2018 St. Thomas Conventional Transit & Paratransit Fares
	Exact Cash	Advance Tickets (sold in Booklets of 10 tickets)		Monthly Pass (unlimited use)
		Adult	Seniors, Students & Children over age 5	Adult	Seniors, Students & Children over age 5
All Riders	$2.75	$22.50 per booklet	$16.50 per booklet	$70.00	$60.00
	**Children under 5 ride FREE with a parent or guardian

Payable upon boarding the vehicle. Please be sure to have the exact fare ready.

Advance tickets will be sold on the paratransit buses, in sheets of 10 - $22.5 for adults, $16.50 for children, students and seniors.  Please note exact change is required.

Children under 5 (with parent or guardian) and attendants ride free.  

Tickets and passes are available at the downtown transit terminal at 614 Talbot Street during operating hours.

Parallel Transit is available:

• Monday to Friday from 7:15 am to 6:45 pm with last pick up at 6:30 pm
• Saturday 9:15 am to 6:45 pm with last pick up at 5:30 pm

There is no transit service on Sundays or the following statutory holidays: New Years Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Civic Holiday, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Boxing Day.

Parallel Transit Booking Policy Statement: 

The operating hours for Parallel Transit bookings are 6:45 am to 6:45 pm Monday to Friday and 8:45 am to 6:45 pm Saturday (excluding Holidays).  In order to book a ride, registered users must call the Parallel Transit booking office at 519-631-0001.  Registered users have two different booking options; Demand bookings (single rides and Standing Order bookings (long term multiple rides).  Each booking has a different set of requirements as follows; 

Demand bookings are: 

• Regular shared rides travel on a demand basis, and
• Booked on a first come, first served basis beginning at 6:45 am three operating    days   (Monday to Saturday) in advance of the trip up to 1 hour prior to the actual trip time (if space is available), and booked in the following priority;

1. Single to and/or from destinations for Employment,
2. Single to and/or from destinations for School,
3. Single to and/or from destinations for Medical,
4. Single to and/or from destinations for Personal/Leisure.  

Riders call beginning at 6:45 am from Monday to Friday and 8:45 pm on Saturday to book service for the following (3 days in advance):

If you call on this day	Book for this day
Thursday	Monday
Friday	Tuesday
Saturday	Wednesday
Monday	Thursday
Tuesday	Friday
Wednesday	Saturday

Standing Order bookings are:

Shared ride travel on a regular pre-determined basis, and

Booked on a first come, first serve basis beginning at 6:45 am ten operating days (Monday to Saturday) in advance of the first trip up to three operating days in advance of the first trip.  One round trip per day for a two week period may be booked in the following priority; 

1. Multiple to and/or from destinations for Employment,
2. Multiple to and/or from destinations for School,
3. Multiple to and/or from destinations for Medical,
4. Multiple to and/or from destinations for Personal/Leisure trips during the non-peak hours of 10:00 am and 1:30 pm,
5. Multiple to and/or from destinations for Personal/Leisure trips during peak hours are taken on a tentative basis as they may be cancelled by employment, school and medical trip requests.  

Please have the following information ready when calling to request a ride:

• Your name
• The date of your required pickup
• The time of your required pickup
• Your registration number
• Address at which you wish to be picked up
• Your destination address
• The purpose of your trip
• Advise if you will be accompanied by an attendant

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While the live operation of the Parallel Transit telephone service is from 6:45 am to 6:45 pm Monday to Friday and 8:45 am to 6:45 pm Saturday, message left by registered users on the service before and after this time period are monitored and cancellations can be made at any time, and

Cancellations/no shows, for any reason, must be made at least (12) hrs in advance, and

Cancellations/no shows will be tracked by Voyageur Transportation and if required, addressed on a monthly basis as follows;

Three cancellations/no shows within a month will result in a written warning and an reminder or the cancellation policy, and

Three cancellations/no shows in the subsequent month will result in a review of the reasons behind the cancellations and a potential suspension of ridership for a one month period, and

Two suspensions within a twelve month time frame may result in a cancellation of ridership rights. 

To help make the service as efficient and as effective as possible:

• Be ready five minutes ahead of your scheduled time. The driver is not required to wait more than five minutes past your appointment pick-up time
• If you must cancel, do it as far in advance as possible
• Try to be as flexible as possible when making arrangements for a ride and allow up to thirty minutes wait from your scheduled pick-up time, especially in bad weather
• All passengers must wear seatbelts
• Drivers are not permitted to lift persons in wheelchairs. (This policy was established to protect both the client and the drivers)
• Smoking is NOT permitted on the bus
• Service is provided only from accessible door to accessible door