Local residents heading to Calgary can do so for free once a week until 2018.

On-It Regional Transit will offer its Free Ride Fridays promotion starting Nov. 3 until Dec. 29.

Ettore Iannacito, Regional Transportation Program Manager with the Calgary Regional Partnership says anyone who would like to use the system can hop on at any stop location for free, no strings attached.

"We think it's just a great way to get people to try the service. We're sure that if they do try it at least once or twice, that they'll find it convenient and perhaps become a regular or even a part-time user. It's also a good way for On-It to thank the customers who have been using the service, by providing a day during the week which they can hop on without worrying about having to pay a fare."

On-It Regional Transit has held similar promotions in January and April this year, Iannacito says they felt the holiday season was an appropriate time to do it again and give back.

He's hopeful local residents will find more use out of the transit system as the weather begins to change.

"We always see ridership going up as soon as the weather takes a turn for the worse, people don't like to drive in those kinds of conditions. Why not let a trained driver on a nice comfortable bus with 50 seats, let them do the driving for you, it's stress free basically."

Residents interested in using Free Ride Fridays just have to show up at an On-It stop on time for the bus, no ticket or registration is necessary.

For a schedule of On-It's routes click here.