Bearing damage means full LRT Line 1 service won’t return until at least late May, says OC Transpo
OC Transpo says it will take at least six weeks to fully restore O-Train Line 1 service, but that there is no longer a risk of a long-term shutdown.
OC Transpo finds more damage on LRT cars, delaying a return to full service on Line 1
OC Transpo says full service on the LRT may not resume until late May or early June, after additional damage was discovered in the cartridge bearing assemblies of the cars.
Discovery of new damage delays return to full train service until late May, says OC Transpo
OC Transpo says it has found “unexpected” and “additional” damage on LRT cars that is delaying plans to fully restore service. At transit committee on April 9, OC Transpo said full train service is expected to resume by end of May. Line 1 has been operating with single-car service since January after damage was found in the cartridge bearing assembly...
Councillors push for more transparent real-time tracking of transit reliability
Long wait times, delays, ghost buses have plagued some 300,000 daily OC Transpo users in 2026. Low operator and bus availability, extreme weather and mechanical problems only exacerbate the problem. And real-time tracking tools meant to help OC Transpo users make decisions about their commute have become unreliable for some. On Jan. 5 alone, for example, more than 800 scheduled...
OC Transpo hiring underqualified candidates, Ottawa’s Auditor General says
Ottawa’s Auditor General has found OC Transpo engaged in hiring practices which prioritized underqualified candidates, a report to the city’s audit committee showed.
OC Transpo’s efforts to improve bus reliability hampered by delays in e-bus deliveries
While bus reliability at OC Transpo appears to be improving, the transit operator is still struggling to get delivery of new buses that would help replace its aging fleet.
Carleton students split on proposed compensation for transit failures
Carleton University student Atisa Khalaj says she often outwalks city buses — even when it’s minus 20 C. “I have never had to spend this much money on Uber until I moved here,” said Khalaj. “I keep deleting that app and then have to re-download it because I’m stranded.” The second-year student at Carleton, says she’s frustrated and disappointed with...
Transit group shows why official OC Transpo numbers don’t match reality for most
A new website from a volunteer transit advocacy group shows why Ottawa’s official bus reliability numbers don’t match the actual experience of most riders.
OC Transpo steps back from its electric-bus plan
City staff can now, once again, consider purchasing diesel and diesel-electric buses after a recent motion at the transit committee.
Crime-preventing AI could soon watch over OC Transpo riders
OC Transpo plans to look into using artificial intelligence to monitor its closed circuit TV system on buses and in stations.
Calls grow for dedicated bus lanes on Bank Street as Lansdowne 2.0 moves forward
The approval of Lansdowne 2.0 is bringing calls for dedicated bus lanes on Bank Street to the fore.
OC Transpo users question proposed fare increase when service has not improved
OC Transpo riders will pay more in 2026 as the city struggles to meet reliability targets and contain budget shortfalls driven in large part by a rising transit deficit.
There’s an app for that: OC Transpo to provide real-time crime reporting
OC Transpo will introduce a new app next year for reporting crime on transit.
“Exponentially terrible”: Redesigned Route 82 works against Knoxdale-Merivale commute, bus riders say
Ottawa's Route 82 absorbed two other bus lines under New Ways to Bus. Riders say the three-in-one route is unreliable and inconvenient.
Ottawa proposes 3.75% tax hike to pay for transit, police and other priorities
Ottawa City Council unveiled its 2026 draft budget Wednesday morning, announcing property tax and OC Transpo fare increase.
From parking passes to bus delays: Frustrated Carleton students navigating commuting challenges in Ottawa
Carleton University students are finding ways to adapt after a month of changes to parking on campus.
‘I can’t keep doing this’: Commuters from West Ottawa share frustration about unreliable buses
West end commuters are struggling to adapt to missing and late buses as construction on the O-train's Line 3 continues.
OC Transpo’s New Ways to Bus is a ‘mixed bag’ for west end commuters
On April 27, OC Transpo implemented its new bus network, New Ways to Bus. How has it affected west end commuters?
Is the LRT east extension on track to open before 2026? Commuters sure hope so
Ottawa's east end residents cautiously hopeful OC Transpo's LRT east extension is heading for opening by year-end.
City officials expect launch of O-Train’s western service in early 2027
While the O-Train’s eastern extension could possibly see completion this year, construction teams are hard at work completing the long-anticipated western expansion. The West extension is part of the Stage 2 Light Rail expansion, which will add 16 new destinations to the previous O-Train LRT lines. The extension will see new stations added to Line 1, as well as a...
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...
Student unions oppose OC Transpo’s ‘illegal’ U-Pass fee increase, citing breach of contract
Ottawa university student unions were surprised to learn that OC Transpo is trying to unilaterally increase U-Pass transit fees, a move the student unions say violates a legal agreement.
Ottawa councillors tell OC Transpo that residents are getting frustrated with LRT construction
City councillors told OC Transpo officials that many Ottawa residents are getting frustrated with the disruptions caused by ongoing construction of the LRT expansion.
Ottawa Council approves Lincoln Fields Secondary Plan despite community concerns
Ottawa Council has approved the Lincoln Fields Secondary plan, giving residents a look at the future of the area.
As Budget 2025 nears approval, OC Transpo faces a reckoning amid ridership, financial and reliability woes
Chronically late buses, an ever-shifting opening date for the long-delayed Trillium Line, serious deficits and irate transit passengers appearing at committee meetings are just some of the pressing issues OC Transpo has been dealing with over a challenging year.
Transit in Ottawa to get more costly as city grapples with budget shortfalls
OC Transpo riders will be facing higher costs in 2025 as the city struggles to contain budget shortfalls driven in part by rising transit costs.
Transit commission asks OC Transpo what it needs to fix bus reliability
Members of Ottawa’s Transit Commission are concerned that bus reliability is far below where it needs to be in advance a major overhaul of bus routes across the city planned for next Spring. New Ways to Bus, is to begin in April, some months after the opening of the LRT Lines 2 and 4, expected in November. The bus plan...
Fuelling the Strain: Rising gas prices force students to rethink budgets
With gas prices fluctuating wildly in recent years, students have been feeling it at the pump and some are having a hard time managing their budgets. Finley McHattie, 18, drives to school almost every day from his parents’ house in Stittsville to Carleton University. On a good day, it takes him 30 minutes, but often, with traffic, it takes him...
City to hand transit riders worrisome fare increase in 2025
Despite Statistics Canada indicating slowing inflation for public transit fares, the City of Ottawa is considering significant fare hikes, increased property taxes and service cuts as it debates the budget for 2025. Those impending increases concern Ayesha Khan, a fourth-year student at Carleton University. She lives in Orléans and uses public transit to get to school. She is worried about...
City Builder: Renée Amilcar embraces OC Transpo leadership amidst transit turmoil
Renée Amilcar, General Manager of Transit Services at OC Transpo, welcomes the challenges that arise while striving to improve Ottawa's public transit.
More Ottawa commuters are carpooling, cycling, walking or taking transit as traffic backs up in Ottawa
Since the government’s Sept. 9 return-to-office mandate, Ottawa’s streets have become much more congested, pushing commuters to seek alternatives in order to avoid long delays. As public transit struggles to keep pace and traffic worsens, cycling, carpooling, and walking have come in-clutch as popular solutions among commuters.
OC Transpo workers suffering as transit struggles, union leader tells councillors
Members of Ottawa’s Transit Commission got an earful from OC Transpo union leaders Sept. 12, who say that the problems with the system cannot be fixed with more cuts. “Some of our operators are on shifts tirelessly for up to 12 hours, yet really compensated for seven and a half on average,” said Noah Vineberg, president of ATU Local 279,...
Students getting bad deal from OC Transpo, transit commission hears
Ottawa’s Transit Commission heard from student users, fed up with a service that is becoming less reliable, that further cuts will make a bad situation worse. Carleton University Students’ Association Associate Vice-President Aidan Kallioinen told the committee Sept. 12 he has concerns in particular about cuts to off-peak service frequency on O-Train Line 1. “In 2023 alone, our association saw...
OC Transpo workers “stretched to the limit of safety and legality,” says union leader
OC Transpo employees are “stretched to the limits of safety and legality,” ATU Local 279 President Noah Vineberg told a Sept. 12 Transit Commission meeting. This is happening, he added, as the system is having difficulty retaining staff despite increased recruitment efforts. As a result, Vineberg said schedules are “unreasonable,” with operators stretched thin because of the changes. Operators are...
City Builder: Neil Saravanamuttoo of CitySHAPES wants Ottawa to reach its ‘terrific’ potential
The economist, CitySHAPES director, and community advocate says Ottawa has "great bones," but needs work to reach standard of a G7 capital
Transit advocates in Ottawa alarmed by OC Transpo’s pattern of “cutting services”
Community organizations, workers and residents are raising concerns over a pattern of service cuts after OC Transpo announced its plan to reduce LRT frequency during off-peak hours and accusing the city of ruining Ottawa’s public transit system. OC Transpo says, starting Aug. 26, Line 1 will run every 10 minutes at stations between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays...
OC Transpo offers upbeat performance assessment to Transit Commission
Ottawa's Transit Commission met Thursday to discuss upcoming OC Transpo closures and their overall performance in the first half of 2024.
OC Transpo’s bus route changes are really just cuts, say transit advocates
The OCTranspo route overhaul is facing criticism from local advocacy groups who are concerned that it will reduce service to those who use he system.
Para Transpo riders challenge councillors to experience ‘horrible’ system
Para Transpo users are challenging city politicians to ride on the service to experience what they go through just to get to work on time.