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.
A draft budget tabled at the Nov. 24 transit commission meeting recommends a 2.5 per cent fare increase, which could bring an additional $4 million in revenue, and an eight per cent increase to the transit levy, another $43.4 million.
OC Transpo single ticket fares for adults will rise from $4 to $4.10, monthly passes will rise 2.6 per cent to $138.50, seniors monthly passes will jump 2.6 per cent from $58.25 to $59.75 and the U-Pass for students will increase 2.5 per cent from $58.70 per month to $60.17.
The plan offers the largest-ever operating budget for OC Transpo at $938.7 million, a 10.8 per cent increase from last year, after seeing an 11.4 per cent increase the year before.
When we ask for a 2.5 per cent fare increase and an eight per cent levy increase, and there’s no improvements, there’s no added service, that’s a huge challenge for me to sell this to my residents.”
River Coun. Riley Brockington
It follows $46.6-million deficit for OC Transpo forecast for this fiscal year as ridership remains lower than expected and more funding from higher levels of government proves elusive.
“We certainly welcome the increase in the transit levy, we see this as an essential and needed investment,” said Angela Keller-Herzog, executive director of the Community Action for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES) advocacy group.
“However, [since] we’ve just seen a significant reduction in service, we think that having a fare increase is tone deaf. … We don’t think it makes any sense. And we think that a fare increase in an affordability crisis is an inequitable policy choice.”
To Keller-Herzog, a budget that rebuilds service and “protects transit from a ridership death spiral” is necessary as traffic congestion, decreased ridership and population growth accelerate.
Nearly two dozen transit riders and watchdog groups spoke out against the fare hikes, chronically late buses and serious deficits at the committee meeting.
“It’s hard to square this budget’s stated theme of affordability with yet another fare increase,” Nick Grover, of Ecology Ottawa, said.
“Everyone’s paying into OC Transpo without a clear sense of what they’re actually getting out of it. For the transit rider, the service remains unreliable, infrequent and inconsistent, and for the suburban homeowner seeing their levy increase, transit remains by and large unusable.”
Brooke Anderson, a second-year computer science student at Carleton University and founder of Carleton Transit Riders, said she simply “can’t rely on my bus being on time.”
“I have missed classes, I have lost marks, and I have spent money I don’t have on Uber, just so I don’t fail tests due to not attending.”
On-time performance continues to lag targets, with 82 per cent regularity for OC Transpo’s frequent routes (three per cent lower than the target) and 72 per cent punctuality for less frequent routes (13 per cent lower than the target) over the past 12 months.
On average, 11 per cent of less frequent trips arrived more than minute early, while 17 per cent arrived more than five minutes late.
OC Transpo General Manager Troy Charter told the committee staff are “committed to improving service reliability.”
“We need to be focused on continuous improvement,” he said. “Some of the key investments and the actions that we’re taking are really improving the service and setting the path forward for us as we move into 2026…. There’s so many initiatives that are going on in transit right now that we’re really starting to gain some momentum and I’m confident that you’re going to see those improvements in terms of reliability and public perception of the system.”
River Coun. Riley Brockington, long a proponent of better on-time bus performance tracking, said his constituents are “so upset with the level of service now, they’re not willing to pay an extra nickel.”
“That’s what I am confronted with every public meeting I go to, that’s the reality I’m faced with. So when we ask for a 2.5 per cent fare increase and an eight per cent levy increase, and there’s no improvements, there’s no added service, that’s a huge challenge for me to sell this to my residents.”
I can no longer rely on OCTranspo. I have had three cancellations in one day. And none of the routes to Stittsville can follow the schedule provided. I have purchased an electric bike and have decided to be responsible for my own transportation. Why would anyone give up there car to take the bus.