Riide Saskatoon says cold weather brings higher call volumes, still hitting benchmarks

Many of us have likely been there: You go to start your car in these frigid temperatures and it just won’t turn over.

In those instances, transportation services such as Saskatoon’s Riide come in to save the day. According to its fleet manager, Muntasir Sauvick, this past weekend was a busy one.

“Given COVID, our call volumes did go down. But we are experiencing a higher call volume. I spoke to my dispatcher who works during the weekends (and) she informed me that it was one of the busier ones. These last couple months, it hasn’t been that busy,” he said.

Regardless of the high call volumes, Sauvick said Riide’s drivers have been hitting their benchmark of responding to customers within five to 10 minutes.

He said that when call volumes increase, Riide also has a fleet ready to go on standby.

As the temperature continues to reach lows in the -30s C in Saskatoon, Sauvick said Riide is ready to respond and help out those in need of transportation.