Long before OC Transpo launched New Ways to Bus in April, Tag Hatle would take Route 282 from the Knoxdale-Merivale ward to work downtown. The route operated only during peak hours, but it was direct and “reliable,” Hatle told Capital Current.
That changed with New Ways to Bus, which axed the 282 as part of a transit overhaul that reworked, replaced or removed more than 100 bus routes.
The 282 and the Nepean portion of Route 173 were added to an expanded Route 82. Now stretching from Baseline station to Lincoln Fields — and extending to Tunney’s Pasture station during weekday peak periods — instead of Baseline to Bayshore, the 82 covers the three service areas by itself.
Since then, many residents have found the route to be one of the least reliable and, as Hatle says, “exponentially terrible.”
“Nobody trusts that it is going to come, so you do not want to rely on [the 82],” Hatle said. “If you do and it doesn’t come, then you’re busing to Baseline and then you’re catching something from Baseline to Tunney’s, and that adds an extra 30-40 minutes to your commute.”
According to OC Transpo statistics in Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine’s newsletter, Route 82 (Baseline) scores 40 per cent on weekly reliability. When heading in the opposite direction, the 82 bus is about 58 per cent reliable each week.
Between 6 and 9 a.m., the 82 (Baseline) is on time in about 46 per cent of cases. During the afternoon peak, between 3 and 6 p.m., on-time reliability of the 82 (Baseline) drops to 19 per cent.
Route 82 to Tunney’s Pasture fares a bit better during peak hours. In the morning, the route is 61 per cent reliable, while in the afternoon, it is 57 per cent.
Coun. Devine is pushing for change.
“Our office is taking these findings seriously. We will be bringing our findings to OC Transpo and insisting that adjustments be made in the near term to improve service on this critical route,” Devine said.
OC Transpo did not respond to questions about the reliability of the 82 in time for publication.
In a Sept. 11 report to the Transit committee, OC Transpo said some causes of bus unreliability include the frequent maintenance needed for its aging bus fleet, the unavailability of drivers and buses, traffic congestion and road conditions.
Though these problems impact all OC Transpo routes, Devine says in his newsletter that there are “unique circumstances” affecting the 82 — namely, the consequences of absorbing two bus routes.
“The re-designed route for the 82 has tasked this single bus line with covering far too many stops and destinations, loading too much of a service area onto a single route, stretching its capacity and reliability to the breaking point,” he wrote.
Hatle said they’ve nearly reached a breaking point with OC Transpo and they question whether their future children will be able to get around the city independently.
“It is one reason that I’m reconsidering living in Ottawa,” they said. “[My wife and I are] thinking about how miserable it can be as a kid to have your parents have to shuttle you everywhere.”
In his newsletter, Devine said that numerous anecdotes about the 82’s reliability have flooded his inbox. He said families in his ward are buying cars for their university children, rather than risk up to an hour-and-15-minute delay for their commutes.
For Paul Park, a reporter with the Hill Times, these delays have become a routine part of his workday.
Park has been riding the 82 to work several times a week for the past four years, using the peak hour extension to Tunney’s Pasture. However, its limited schedule forces him to work on OC Transpo’s terms or spend extra money each day.
“It only goes to Tunney’s during rush hours, so if I want to go into the office later or stay later at night, I have to Uber to get home,” Park said. “It’s just an inconvenience that remains consistent.”
Although Park plans not to use public transit in the coming years when he retires retirement, he wrote to Devine about his issues with transit, hoping to increase the 82’s frequency and have it run to Tunney’s the whole day. He said Devine brought the request forward to OC Transpo, but was unsuccessful.
Brooke Anderson, a board member of the advocacy group, Ottawa Transit Riders, said she has heard concerns about reliability from riders across many different routes, especially after New Ways to Bus.
There is a “crisis of reliability,” she said.
“OC Transpo could be great, and it can be great. We just need our representatives to actually put in the work, to make the motions to vote the right way,” Anderson said. “It’s not a lost cause.”
Hatle is looking forward to the next municipal election, hoping transit will improve if there is new leadership.
“If we get city councillors and a mayor who are dedicated to seeing OC Transpo as a public service rather than a business, they will stop worrying so much about costs and start worrying about the impact on the city,” Hatle said. “I would like to see it happen.”
For now, Hatle will ride the 82 until winter passes. Because the 82 overlaps with several school bus routes, its roads are generally plowed and salted early in the day.
Snow or shine, Hatle’s expectations are the same.
“I don’t anticipate winter making it any worse than it would have been before,” Hatle said. “It’s an extraordinarily low bar — there is no bar at this point.”
Once warmer weather hits, Hatle says they will be found cycling around the city instead.
