OC Transpo

[Richard Eade]

That is very true, phil235. Terrible service is not attractive for riders.

However, IF OC Transpo can actually provide 99.5% (and that’s still about 300 cancelled runs each day), then that is an improvement. I can look at the schedule and have 99.5% confidence that an average bus/train will arrive on schedule. Of course, in reality, most of the canceled trips will be from the most frequent/popular routes – so those routes will have less than 99.5% chance of coming when scheduled.

I am happy that things are improving, reliability-wise. But as you point out there is a LONG way to go before the service is considered ‘Good’ by many people’s standards.

[Richard Eade]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

The Transit Nerds of this world need to start rattling the cage more on data transparency from OC Transpo. It is not good.

They give and they take:

Transit Nerds might have a new Webpage to look at, but the older one that shows the undelivered trips has not been updated for a couple of weeks now.

[ponyboycurtis]

Some good news on the OC Transpo front.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/o-...eover-with-new-special-constable-office/

So far it seems like Rick Leary is coming in swinging.

[J.OT13]

Heritage Ottawa streetcar finds new home in Smiths Falls
Streetcar 696 has moved to the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario.

Author of the article:By Michael McBean, Special to the Citizen
Published May 26, 2026



https://ottawacitizen.com/news/heritage-ottawa-street-car

[Uhuniau]

Councillor proposes 2 free weekends on OC Transpo buses, O-Train to compensate riders
Josh Pringle
Published: June 08, 2026 at 7:25AM EDT
https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/co...nspo-buses-o-train-to-compensate-riders/

Two free weekends to ride Ottawa’s transit system and extending Para Transpo Service on Friday and Saturday evenings are some of the ideas being floated at Ottawa City Hall to boost service for riders.

O-Train Line 1 is running at regular service with double-car trains on Monday for the first time in four months after a spalling issue was discovered on the cartridge bearing assembly in January and a 100,000 km limit was imposed on all axles. OC Transpo has also cancelled thousands of bus trips so far this year due to an aging bus fleet requiring maintenance and a delay in the arrival of new electric buses.

Council will vote Wednesday on a motion from Coun. Shawn Menard, seconded by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, to implement several measures to boost reliability and enhance service.

“Ottawa’s transit riders deserve safe and reliable transit services on both our rail and bus networks,” said the motion.

One of the options is spending $900,000 to offer two free “familiarization weekends” on public transit. One weekend would be September 12-13, while the other free transit weekend would be following the launch of the O-Train Line 1 East Extension.

The motion also recommends increasing Para Transpo hours of service on Friday and Saturday evenings by two hours to align with the LRT schedule. That would cost $108,000 per year.

Other proposals in the motion include:

- Buying two 60-foot articulated buses to “advance our fleet modernization and increase bus reliability. The two new buses would cost $3.6 million.
- Purchase two six-metre Para Transpo buses at a cost of $480,000.
- Deploy a suite of transit priority measures requested by councillors in a way that “maximizes transit benefits at the earliest opportunities.” That would cost $1 million.

Menard’s motion also recommends spending $2 million to install heat tracing on the Line 1 overhead catenary system to avoid future multi-day LRT shutdowns caused by freezing rain. The O-Train east of uOttawa station was out of service for several days in March after freezing rain damaged the overhead catenary system.

If approved by council, the city would use funding from the Transit Capital Reserve to purchase the new buses and install the heat tracing technology on O-Train Line 1. Funding from the transit operating reserve would be used to fund operating relating initiatives.

Menard’s motion comes after OC Transpo staff examined possible ways to compensate transit riders for the delays and disruptions on the transit system so far this year. Council approved a motion directing staff to explore scenarios to compensate transit riders, including refunds, discounted future service or capital improvements to boost reliability.

A 50 per cent refund provided to customers for disruptions between Jan. 22 and March 31 would cost approximately $8.2 million.

Staff said a future 50 per cent discount on the price of monthly passes sold to individual customers would cost $2 million to $2.5 million a month. A 50 per cent discount on the cost of single-ride fares would cost $3 million to $3.3 million per month.

[Uhuniau]

Two whole articulated buses.

Dream no little dreams, councillor.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

That is very true, phil235. Terrible service is not attractive for riders.

However, IF OC Transpo can actually provide 99.5% (and that’s still about 300 cancelled runs each day), then that is an improvement. I can look at the schedule and have 99.5% confidence that an average bus/train will arrive on schedule. Of course, in reality, most of the canceled trips will be from the most frequent/popular routes – so those routes will have less than 99.5% chance of coming when scheduled.

I am happy that things are improving, reliability-wise. But as you point out there is a LONG way to go before the service is considered ‘Good’ by many people’s standards.

99.5% of trips being delivered, out of <8000 scheduled trips on a typical weekday, means less than 40 trips being cancelled on average. Nowhere near 300.

[Richard Eade]

I’ll explain where my number of 300 comes from:

I looked at OC Transpo’s Bus Service Delivery Action Plan Webpage: (https://www.octranspo.com/en/about-us/transparency/bus-service-delivery-action-plan) (Which has not been updated in a month! Transparance turned opaque.) During the week of Apr. 26-May 2 (since week-ends are not included), there was 99.5% service delivery. During those weekdays, there were 275 undelivered trips. That is an average of 55 trips missed each weekday.

HOWEVER, that didn’t include the 255, or, as of Apr. 19, 279, trips PER DAY that were TEMPORARILY removed from the schedule. So, in total, OC Transpo is currently missing about 310-334 per day when they achieve 99.5% service delivery.

And, that’s how I came up with the number 300. (I admit that I did round down the number to make OC Transpo look a bit better.)

So, you do have a point, OCCheetos. IF, in the future, OC Transpo can reinstate the TEMPORARILY dropped runs, and then achieve 99.5% of scheduled service, then they might still be missing over 50 runs each day. Which will be taken from the busiest, most frequent, routes, just to tick-off the greatest number of people.

[Richard Eade]

An interesting take on things by Mr. Denley.
From the Ottawa Citizen:
(https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/road-repair-oc-transpo)

Stop spending more on OC Transpo when roads need fixing | Opinion

Randall Denley: City Hall spend vastly more time talking about OC Transpo than they do about Ottawa's deteriorating roads. That should change.

By Randall Denley
Published Jun 08, 2026

In that opinion piece, Denley points out that only about 20% of residents use public transit more than a few times a month. Yet 77.9% of workers drive to their place of employment. He reasons that it is unfair that, for 2026, the City has budgeted $914M for transit, but only $530M for roads, traffic, and parking. Basically, he seems to be saying that the transit service is in better shape than our roads, ergo, that the City needs to allocate any new money to repairing roads so that they can ‘catch up’ to transit.

Unfortunately, I think that he has a point. I can quibble about his ‘facts’ – such as referencing the $914M spending on transit but not deducting the 30%-35% that riders submit – but overall, the City spends A LOT on providing public transit, and too little on maintaining its roadways. I know that people will claim that road users pay their share for road work, but do they? In Ottawa, I believe the ‘Gas Tax’ payment goes toward funding transit, not roads. That is probably another amount that should be deducted from the $914M, since it is a directed payment and could not be used for roads.

When the media reported that OC Transpo was only achieving 95% of its scheduled runs, that likely affected a lot fewer people than those affected by 15% of roads being in POOR or VERY POOR condition.

All that said, I can agree with Mr. Denley that the City NEEDS to spend a LOT more on upkeep of its assets – including roadways. I disagree that increases should stop flowing to OC Transpo. The City needs to do two things: 1) INCREASE taxes to cover expected expenses, and not limit increases to arbitrarily low values, with no regard for reality; and 2) VALUE ENGINEER its spending.

I know. The term ‘Value Engineer’ makes grown men quiver in their boots. And I think that that is because it has been used so poorly by the City. It has been used as a term for paring costs down to fit into a preconceived, ridiculously-low, budget. For example, the Baseline BRT is reduced to a few disjointed segments of transit lanes and segregated cycle tracks – because that is all that will fit into the budget., True Value Engineering would ask how to get continuous transit and bike lanes within the entire length of the corridor for a reasonable cost, without extra ‘frills’.

There is “Wouldn’t it be great if . . .” and then there is reality. I’m not talking about trying to learn to play guitar on that old, child-size unit that you found in your uncle’s basement – the one with the loose and warped neck and the three missing frets. And I’ not talking about a consultant-recommended, solar-powered, LASER-beam, guitar that will give you money for nothing and chicks for free. I think that there is a nice point somewhere between the extremes.

So let’s not hog-tie transit and watch it whither further. But let’s start to spend more reasonably on new things and then spend the savings on trying to save whatever emaciated infrastructure that can be saved

[Uhuniau]

The thing is, things are, though:

- buses also use the roads, and some of the roads that buses use are in absolute shit shape, which is bad for both buses and people who ride them

- the fewer people driving, especially single-occupant autos, the less wear and tear on the roads, and one way to get people out of cars is better transit.


It's not either or, and Randall Denley is smart enough to know that. He's just a cranky bastard like newspaper people tend to be, and a suburban driver.

[J.OT13]

Daily fare capping on Presto

Starting June 8, daily fare capping will be available on Presto.

This means you can tap your Presto card all day on the O-Train, buses, and Para Transpo, and you’ll never be charged more than $12.25 — the price of a DayPass.

Monthly fare capping is already available: Ride all month and you won’t be charged more than the price of a monthly pass.

https://www.octranspo.com/en/news/article/daily-fare-capping-on-presto/

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

The thing is, things are, though:

- buses also use the roads, and some of the roads that buses use are in absolute shit shape, which is bad for both buses and people who ride them

- the fewer people driving, especially single-occupant autos, the less wear and tear on the roads, and one way to get people out of cars is better transit.


It's not either or, and Randall Denley is smart enough to know that. He's just a cranky bastard like newspaper people tend to be, and a suburban driver.

Funny because he had a not terrible take back in April.

It will take consistent and visible service improvements before people change their minds about the local transit system, and even then Leary will find a gap between what OC Transpo can afford to deliver and the ideal transit system that some demand.

Article content
That would be the one where you can get anywhere in the city by transit quickly, reliably and cheaply, but not just that. Transit’s greatest enthusiasts envision a free system with greatly expanded service, choosing to ignore that this would lower revenue while increasing costs for a service that already requires $900 million a year to operate.

Article content
While improving the performance of OC Transpo, Leary will need to simultaneously give the public a realistic assessment of what can be achieved. Ottawa doesn’t have the population density for the intensive transit people see in more compact European cities. The sweet spot is certainly more than the public is getting now, but significantly less than some would like.

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/oc-transpo-problems-leary

[rocketphish]

OC Transpo to offer 2 fare-free weekends — but no refunds — to compensate for winter woes
Plan to make up for cancelled buses and single-car trains also invests in buses, heating LRT wires

Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News
Posted: Jun 10, 2026 1:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago

OC Transpo will offer passengers two fare-free weekends to make up for months of LRT service disruptions and poor bus reliability.

Council voted for the free weekends at a cost of $900,000 as part of a broader compensation package it approved on Wednesday.

That money will come from reserves. So would $7 million to fund capital projects to improve service including two diesel buses, two Para Transpo vehicles and a new heating system that's supposed to remove ice from LRT wires, reducing the risk of electrical flashes that shut down trains this winter.

Kitchisippi Coun. Jeff Leiper found it galling that the city — not its contractor Rideau Transit Group (RTG) — will have to foot the bill for that project.

"Why are they not installing the heat tracing at their own expense?" he asked. "Why are we not able to compel them to?"

The motion setting out the compensation package does ask OC Transpo to continue negotiations with RTG to recover costs. Transit services general manager Rick Leary said the company will pay for maintenance of the new system, so long as the city installs it.

One of the free weekends is scheduled for Sept. 26-27, while the other will come after the launch of the LRT extension to Orléans, which has faced repeated delays and still doesn’t have an opening date.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard, who moved the successful motion, said the September weekend will coincide with celebrations for Ottawa’s 200th birthday.

The vote came just days after Line 1 returned to full double-car service, ending five months of running single-car trains due to an issue with flaking metal inside a key component. That caused rush-hour crowding and sometimes left passengers waiting on platforms after trains filled up.

OC Transpo also kicked off the New Year with abysmal bus reliability numbers, as mechanical breakdowns from an aging fleet caused a shortage of buses, forcing the agency to cancel hundreds of trips a day.

In February, council asked OC Transpo to suggest ideas to compensate riders for the pain, and transit staff came back last month with a slate of options.

The package council passed on Wednesday didn’t include options from that list that would directly refund riders who suffered through the poor service. Staff had estimated that a 50 per cent refund for fares and passes over January, February and March could cost $8.2 million.

The two diesel buses, which will be 18-metre-long articulated models, will cost about $3.6 million. The Para Transpo vehicles will run at $480,000, and the heating system is expected to cost $2 million.

The compensation package also calls for $1 million worth of "transit priority measures," a category that could include dedicated bus lanes or advance traffic signals.

Finally, OC Transpo will also add two hours of service on Para Transpo for Friday and Saturday evenings on a pilot basis at a cost of $108,000 per year.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/oc-transpo-free-weekends-compensation-9.7230245

[J.OT13]

Kitchisippi Coun. Jeff Leiper found it galling that the city — not its contractor Rideau Transit Group (RTG) — will have to foot the bill for that project.

"Why are they not installing the heat tracing at their own expense?" he asked. "Why are we not able to compel them to?"

That's a good point. If the Line gets shut down for the same reasons over and over again, it should be on RTG to fix it.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard, who moved the successful motion, said the September weekend will coincide with celebrations for Ottawa’s 200th birthday.

What celebrations? Nothing special is actually going on.

Having a free weekend for the opening of O-Trin East is good, and not just as a compensation. The Sept. 26-27 weekend though seems kind of random.

I maintain that weekend transit should be half price to better compete with cheap Downtown weekend parking.

[Uhuniau]

What is the reward, benefit, or "compensation" of a "free weekend" to a monthly pass holder?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

What is the reward, benefit, or "compensation" of a "free weekend" to a monthly pass holder?

They picked whatever was cheapest for the City, as they always do. There is no benefit for those loyal riders who buy monthly passes.

Better plan would have been a, for example, 20% discount on single rides and passes for a month.

[Uhuniau]

From Menard's motion:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council direct staff to procure and deploy the following reliability measures and service enhancements as soon as possible:

purchase two (2) 60-foot articulated buses, at an approximate cost of $3.6 million, to advance our fleet modernization and increase bus reliability; and
...

deploy a suite of transit priority measures requested by Ward Councillors, up to $1 million, in a way that maximizes transit benefits at the earliest opportunity;

Two articulated buses does approximately nothing, to the closest whole number, to undo the lack of capacity that has been created by the move to short electric buses and the failure to keep a high-capacity fleet in service for high-volume routes. People are getting cranky as hell on crush-loaded 7s and 12s, and it's at the point it is a safety and security issue.

And what single transit priority measure, let alone a frigging "suite" of them, are you going to get for $1-million? Some sternly-worded corrugated plastic signs?

"Councillors have heard a traffic signal can cost up to $2 million and a roundabout can be as much as $3 million, depending on the technical and property requirements."

That's from this Citizen story. IN 2018.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...nals-but-theres-no-money-to-install-them

What an absolute farce. The barest of minimum effort, at the last possible moment before council goes into pre-election "writ period" mode.

By the way, Councillor Menard, the additional bus shelter at Lansdowne still hasn't materialized, three years after you said it had been "secured".

[J.OT13]

Light signal is probably $10M now, and a roundabout $30M. Other than the free weekend when Stage 2 East opens, this is complete garbage.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

That's a good point. If the Line gets shut down for the same reasons over and over again, it should be on RTG to fix it.



What celebrations? Nothing special is actually going on.

Having a free weekend for the opening of O-Trin East is good, and not just as a compensation. The Sept. 26-27 weekend though seems kind of random.

I maintain that weekend transit should be half price to better compete with cheap Downtown weekend parking.

I believe this corresponds with Colonel By's arrival in 1826.

[skyscraperaccount]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I believe this corresponds with Colonel By's arrival in 1826.

https://www.rideau-info.com/canal/history/locks/prolog.html

The Rideau project was placed under the control of the British Board of Ordnance which was responsible for fortifications and canals. The Inspector-General of Fortifications was Gother Mann. It was Mann who likely recommended that Lieutenant Colonel John By, a retired officer of the Royal Engineers, be placed in charge of the project. By had worked under Mann, in Canada, earlier in the century. By had been retired in 1821 at the young age of about 40*. In March 1826 he was taken out of retirement and appointed Superintending Engineer of the Rideau Canal.

It is worth noting that shortly after Lt. Colonel John By was appointed Superintending Engineer, he said that the estimate given by Smyth was too low by a factor of four or five, based on the costs of building the Lachine Canal. Cost overruns, based on initial low construction cost estimates, would later become a major problem for Colonel By.

In March 1826, Major General Sir James Carmichael Smyth wrote a memorandum to General Mann (Inspector-General of Fortifications) which read in part, "I am of the opinion that it will be found more economical and more expeditious to execute the greatest part, if not the whole, of the proposed Rideau Canal by contract …" This presumably had some influence on the fact that most of the Rideau Canal was eventually built by contractors, although the engineering was performed by officers of the Royal Engineers since Colonel By didn't believe that civilian engineers were as reliable as those trained at the Royal Military Academy.

By and his family departed London aboard the bark Endeavour on April 23, 1826 and landed at Quebec City on May 30. On June 1 By and family took the steam boat New Swiftsure to Montreal. In July 1826, he wrote to General Mann in England. In the letter he stressed the need to make the Rideau a route suitable for steamboat navigation, that such boats would become increasingly important from a military standpoint. This meant that the locks should be made to accommodate boats up to 130 feet (40 m) in length and 50 feet (15 m) in width.

By fell sick in Montreal, as did his assistant, Captain Daniel Bolton of the Royal Engineers, and it was not until September that By could travel up the Ottawa. During that time, John Mactaggart, who had been appointed by the Ordnance in London to act as By's Clerk of Works, arrived in Montreal.

On September 7, 1826, the Commanding Royal Engineer in Canada, Colonel Dunford, received specific instructions from the Ordnance in London for By to proceed with the building of the Rideau Canal.

In mid-September 1826, By and a young Royal Engineer, Lieutenant Henry Pooley, together with several other assistants, including John Mactaggart, travelled to Wright's Town, arriving there on September 21. By and Pooley spent several days on a "minute inspection of the various bays" near the Rideau's mouth and "decided on the upper as best." By's choice was Sleigh Bay, later known as Entrance Bay. This also happened to be Dalhousie's choice. The valley above Sleigh Bay was land he had purchased on behalf of the government from Hugh Fraser three years previously. On September 26, Dalhousie and Durnford arrived at Wright's Town and went over the ground with By, approving of what he had done.