With GoTriangle’s shuttle ridership within RTP declining over the last few years, the regional transit agency has come up with a novel plan to save money.

Nix the shuttle service, and instead team up with ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber to take riders the last leg between bus stops and their offices.

Under the program called Transit Connect, GoTriangle will pay up to $10 for bus riders to take either Uber or Lyft the last mile or so from to and from work. Rides that extend outside the RTP zone won’t be free.

Meanwhile, the four shuttle buses will be retired and their drivers reassigned.

Cost savings: about $200,000 a year.

“We’re looking to be more cost-effective,” said Jenny Green, a transit service planner for GoTriangle, was quoted as saying in the News & Observer. “With the Transit Connect program, our goal is to provide the same number of trips as we were with the RTP shuttles, but do it at a much lower cost per trip.”

Transit Connect is one of several changes GoTriangle plans in the coming year, including free fares for people 65 and older and an app that will let people pay for their tickets using their cellphone. For more information about the proposed changes, go to gotriangle.org/service-changes.