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 more than 25,700 student rides using U-Pass, and collectively, our students paid just shy of $12 million for access to OC Transpo services last year,” said Kallioinen.
Despite that, he added, “very few students actually trust OC Transpo to deliver a reliable commute.”
Positive change doesn’t begin until you talk to students, actually listen to the concerns of students and implement service that benefits students.
Aidan Kallioinen, Carleton University Students’ Association
“Many of our students do not have a schedule that fits the presumptive peak versus off-peak distinctions in service. Very few of our students have what would you call a traditional nine-to-five commute. That model of service delivery doesn’t work for us and the over 100,000 students that call Ottawa home.”
Kallioinen supplied an example of typical of the experience of students who use OC Transpo to get to class.
“She had an 8:30 a.m. class this week. Maybe members of the committee can guess what time she had to leave our apartment in the morning to get to class on time and the answer is 6 a.m.,” he said. The student commutes from Gatineau.
He called for the city and OC Transpo to introduce positive and significant investments and strategies to grow ridership rather than diminish it.
OC Transpo reduced O-Train Line 1 service hours this fall because of low ridership and budget constraints. Starting Aug. 26, trains began running every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., with 15-minute intervals after 11 p.m. until the end of service.
According to OC Transpo, the changes were designed to align capacity with demand during off-peak hours when ridership drops significantly.
Despite the expected increase in ridership as students return and more federal employees work in the office, OC Transpo believes the reduced schedule will meet demand.
But Ottawa residents say the reduction in LRT service hours and planned fare increases are surprising and will make the system unsustainable.
The Ottawa Transit Riders, Free Transit Ottawa, and Horizon Ottawa invited Ottawa residents who are concerned about transit cuts to present to the Transit Commission. The Ottawa Transit Riders posted a call on their website on Sept. 5. Many people answered that call and appeared at the Commission meeting, including Patrick Lapointe, who moved to a condo close to the LRT in 2019 to reduce his carbon footprint.
He said the promised transit system has not met expectations, leading to significant delays.
“I find it baffling that city council is considering making such drastic cuts to service and such monumental increases to fares. The suggested 75 per cent increase makes the system untenable,” Lapointe told Capital Current after the committee meeting.
Following presentations from Ottawa residents about transit service cuts, Transit Services General Manager Renée Amilcar said OC Transpo expects to save $600,000 in 2024 by cutting off-peak LRT service from every five minutes to every 10 minutes.
When Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney asked about potential savings with a shorter headway — the distance or duration between two vehicles on a route — Amilcar explained that only five- and 10-minute headways were the options.
Ahead of the Transit Commission meeting, Coun. Jeff Leiper shared his motion on X titled “Restoring five-minute headways on Line 1” and stated that he would seek to reverse the off-peak frequency cuts on Line 1.
His motion has been referred to the Sept. 18 council meeting to allow OC Transpo time to propose additional headway options.
