O-Train east extension on track for 2025 as final phase of work on stations begins
With the eastern expansion of the O-Train scheduled to open to the public by year’s end, the finishing touches of construction are currently underway at the stations that will soon see thousands of riders daily. The extension will add 12.5 kilometres of track east of the existing line, which ends at Blair Station. This includes five new stations, bringing LRT...
OC Transpo spotlights Route 11 data to address service reliability issues
Facing widespread public dissatisfaction with the reliability of Ottawa’s transit system, OC Transpo officials gave city councillors an overview of its performance standards at a transit committee meeting on June 12. The review focused on data from Route 11, which runs from the west-end Bayshore Shopping Centre to Waller Street in the downtown core, a key stop for University of...
Groups call for 24-hour bus lanes along Bank to ease congestion, improve safety
When Ottawa Council recently approved plans to include surrounding streets in a major study of transportation options along Bank Street, advocates for public transit, cyclists and pedestrians dismissed the move as a waste of time. Instead, they argued, an obvious solution to the congestion and safety issues — 24-hour bus lanes — should be implemented urgently. The Bank Street Active...
‘I’d rather waste money than time’: Frustrated bus riders brace for overhaul of city routes
After her 10-hour retail shift at Tanger Outlets, the last thing Monique Obasi wanted to do was wait for her ride home to the Morgan Grant neighbourhood in Kanata. So, at 9:45 p.m., Obasi hurried to the nearest bus stop. In the home stretch of her run, she watched the bus speed past her stop, right in front of her...
OC Transpo crackdown on fare evasion draws ire of free-transit advocates
An Ottawa advocate for free transit says an OC Transpo crackdown on riders who evade paying their bus or LRT fare is unfairly punishing low-income people who can’t afford to use the city’s troubled transit system. In a report presented recently to the transit committee, OC Transpo detailed the levels of fare evasion in the city and its approach to...
Bus shortage could hinder OC Transpo’s massive route makeover
OC Transpo is 19 buses short ahead of a slew of route changes planned under the New Ways to Bus, which comes into effect April 27. A minimum of 540 buses a day are needed while OC Transpo has an average of 521 buses available, city staff told transit committee April 10. While incoming route changes require fewer buses, with...
Return to rail: The ‘Gréber Plan’ ended streetcar transit in Ottawa nearly 100 years ago
With a sense of deja vu, OC Transpo’s LRT expansion today is a return to an idea of mass transit that was shelved nearly 100 years ago.
Baseline transitway hailed as potential ‘game changer’ for east-west cycling
The City of Ottawa is moving forward a 14-kilometre rapid bus transit corridor designed to revolutionize sustainable transportation between Bayshore and Heron stations. The first of three phases in the Baseline Transitway Project is to begin construction in spring 2025. This first stage will focus on the reconstruction of the Greenbank Road and Baseline Road intersection, introducing bus priority lanes,...
OC Transpo readies publicity plan to alert Ottawans of major changes to bus routes
With the O-Train lines 2 and 4 now running seven days a week, OC Transpo will begin its latest publicity campaign, telling transit riders about the many changes coming to Ottawa’s bus network. City councillors heard the details of this plan during the Mar. 17 Transit Committee meeting.
Delivery of electric buses to OC Transpo coming up short, commission hears
OC Transpo expects to have 30 electric buses by the end of March 2025, falling short of their target, according to an update from city staff to Ottawa’s Transit Committee on Feb. 13.
Ottawa commuters frustrated by fare hikes as city seeks transit funding
Kari Glynes Elliott, co-founder of Ottawa Transit Riders, remembers one particularly memorable conversation with frustrated commuters. A family of Syrian refugees “living on the poverty line” approached her advocacy group after purchasing a second-hand car “because they couldn’t trust the transit system,” she said. As Glynes Elliott recalls it, one of the family members, a senior, told her, “I can...
Fare increases and empty seats: OC Transpo has yet to regain pre-pandemic ridership
Low ridership is a multi-pronged issue for Ottawa. For some residents, lack of reliability is the main deterrent for their participation. For public workers, remote work options mean there is no reason to take transit. For some Ottawa residents like Max Patton, a part-time line cook, declining service quality and increasing fares have been enough to make him abandon OC...