Frédéric Gauld, owner of Round Top Bagels in Sutton, has set up a ride-sharing service through the business that he hopes will help address the challenges of accessing public transportation in the Eastern Townships. Having noticed the difficulties surrounding transportation in rural areas, Gauld now wants to give citizens an opportunity to work together to help people get from point A to point B. 

“Community transport, or public transit, is non-existent or insufficient in the area, which is quite typical of rural Quebec,” said Gauld. 

Combined with hassle of ride-sharing initiatives online, Gauld recognized a necessity in his community. 

“For most drivers at least, the whole idea of having to go online, register your destination, and then plan the trip ahead of time, if you’re going a short trip (…) most people will not do that. It’s a hassle, and most of the time you don’t get an answer and it’s useless. I’ve been through that myself,” noted Gauld. 

Here’s how it works: a panel is set up outside of Round Top Bagels made up of smaller, horizontal, pieces of wood with certain destinations listed on one side and the other side is blank. When someone needs a ride, they can flip over the piece of wood from the blank side to the side that corresponds to their desired destination. 

“From the driver’s point of view, you’re driving by, let’s say you’re going to Lac-Brome, well if you see the sign up for that city that indicates that someone is waiting for a lift inside. What’s interesting about it, is that the driver has complete control over who they want to get into the car,” explained Gauld. “When they enter the place of business that is hosting this ride system, which in this case is the bagel shop, whoever is waiting for a ride will have a miniature version of that sign at their table."

While Gauld is not involved in the ride-sharing experience beyond serving as the hosting business, he said the system will be monitored. 

“To provide more comfort to users of the system, we provide a journal of rides where the driver and the ride-seeker can sign off as they leave to say this person left with this person, at this date and hour, at the destination of this town,” he said. 

While a personal project, Gauld hopes to see other businesses or cafés catch on to the initiative. 

“If there was a place in Lac-Brome, if there was a place Cowansville, a place in Bromont, a place in Dunham, etc., if every town had a participating café, we might end up with a really functional, funky, low tech, solution to this rural transportation challenge,” mentioned Gauld. 

Listen to the full interview below: