OC Transpo

[phil235]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

But those provide a one seat ride to a destination.

If your destination is Union Station I guess.

[rocketphish]

On-demand bus pilot project launches Sunday
OC Transpo’s experiment with on-demand bus service will begin Super Bowl Sunday with a “soft launch” of the pilot project in Blackburn Hamlet.

Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen
Published Feb 05, 2024 • 1 minute read

OC Transpo’s experiment with on-demand bus service will begin Super Bowl Sunday with a “soft launch” of the pilot project in Blackburn Hamlet.

In a memo to council Monday, OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar said on-demand buses will offer service to and from Blair Station and Gloucester Centre on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and on select holidays.

The pilot project will be expanded in the future to include both weekend days.

During the pilot project, customers can book same-day and next-day trips between select bus stops in Blackburn Hamlet using a smart phone app or by calling OC Transpo customer service.

The service will use idle Para Transpo minibuses, but existing Para Transpo service won’t be affected, OC Transpo said in an earlier report to the city’s transit commission. The city owns 80 minibuses, but only 44 are needed for weekend Para Transpo service, the report said.

If the on-demand program proves successful, it may be expanded to other neighbourhoods in the city.

On-demand bus service is already in use in other North American cities as transit services search for ways to run an efficient service in the face of rising costs and falling ridership. Edmonton’s on-demand service, operated by a private company, is Canada’s largest and has seen a 50 per cent increase in ridership since it began in 2021.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...aunches-sunday

[rocketphish]

OC Transpo announces layoffs as ridership continues to stall
Renée Amilcar, OC Transpo's manager, says transit ridership is not expected to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels for up to a decade.

Marlo Glass, Ottawa Citizen
Published Feb 06, 2024 • Last updated 0 minutes ago • 2 minute read

OC Transpo laid off 35 workers Tuesday, saying a continued loss in ridership has created a “permanent gap” in its funding at a time when operating costs are increasing.

A memo from Renée Amilcar, OC Transpo’s general manager, says transit ridership is not expected to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels for up to a decade.

“Based on our current projections, transit ridership is not expected to recover further than 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the immediate future,” the memo reads, meaning OC Transpo “must adjust as we continue to identify ways of reducing costs.”

“As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our management and administrative workforce today.”

The layoffs include 25 unionized employees and 10 management staff, the memo says, but did not impact front-line employees, including bus and rail operators, nor mechanics and apprentices.

The city’s transit services workforce consists of more than 3,100 people.

<more>

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...inues-to-stall

[DTcrawler]

"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas"

[JCL]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

How does this work? Do they just read your Presto card? What if you paid by credit card or mobile wallet?

You hand your card (either PRESTO or the Credit Card) to the Fare Inspector, they tap it onto their mobile validation device, and then hand it back to you.

If the fare is not valid, they take you off the train at the next stop.

[lrt's friend]

I have just returned from a ward meeting with OC representation. I am predicting a chaotic roll out of the newest transit changes and Line 2. What is bugging me the most is their desire to force people onto Line 2 rather than get them efficiently to their destination. More transfers are being added, beyond the transfers added when Line 1 opened. I guarantee this will result in fewer riders. I told them that 2 transfers means that I will not use the service.

In my neighbourhood, they are truncating the route at both ends and adding a new leg that has no proven need. Where people want to go the most, they are eliminating service. I don't get it.

From what I saw, service is dependent on the effectiveness of your councillor. I noticed that Riley Brockington was able to re-instate Route 90 and 92 that were both cancelled in their existing form. But, Route 92 will terminate at Walkley Station in off peak hours, a crazy place to have the terminus. It amounts to token service. Walkley is not a popular destination. The peak period service is even worse as it winds it way through both Hunt Club and Herongate before going towards Hurdman. This is the total opposite of straightening routes.

I made numerous comments including some that would cost little or nothing, but I doubt that they are listening. It was clear. Nobody was taking notes.

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I have just returned from a ward meeting with OC representation. I am predicting a chaotic roll out of the newest transit changes and Line 2. What is bugging me the most is their desire to force people onto Line 2 rather than get them efficiently to their destination. More transfers are being added, beyond the transfers added when Line 1 opened. I guarantee this will result in fewer riders. I told them that 2 transfers means that I will not use the service.

In my neighbourhood, they are truncating the route at both ends and adding a new leg that has no proven need. Where people want to go the most, they are eliminating service. I don't get it.

From what I saw, service is dependent on the effectiveness of your councillor. I noticed that Riley Brockington was able to re-instate Route 90 and 92 that were both cancelled in their existing form. But, Route 92 will terminate at Walkley Station in off peak hours, a crazy place to have the terminus. It amounts to token service. Walkley is not a popular destination. The peak period service is even worse as it winds it way through both Hunt Club and Herongate before going towards Hurdman. This is the total opposite of straightening routes.

I made numerous comments including some that would cost little or nothing, but I doubt that they are listening. It was clear. Nobody was taking notes.

Is that not obvious? Suburbanites vote for councillors who promise lower taxes, not better transit service. Route changes aren’t being made to improve rider experience, but rather to improve cost effectiveness. Hell, the main reason behind the whole O-Train program is to reduce operating costs.

I don’t understand how this still comes as a shock.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Is that not obvious? Suburbanites vote for councillors who promise lower taxes, not better transit service. Route changes aren’t being made to improve rider experience, but rather to improve cost effectiveness. Hell, the main reason behind the whole O-Train program is to reduce operating costs.

I don’t understand how this still comes as a shock.

I think that the voter intensions and councillor platforms are not so clear cut. It was the mayor who specifically ran on a low tax increase platform. Was it just suburbanites who voted in favour of this? I think it was likely supported broadly.

Regardless, if plans are to lower costs, and it reduces ridership, there are false economies. Recent economies have been more than offset by revenue losses.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Is that not obvious? Suburbanites vote for councillors who promise lower taxes, not better transit service. Route changes aren’t being made to improve rider experience, but rather to improve cost effectiveness. Hell, the main reason behind the whole O-Train program is to reduce operating costs.

I don’t understand how this still comes as a shock.

Suburbanite wants to have his cake and eat it too. Shocker.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

And we wonder why ridership is not rebounding?

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

What is bugging me the most is their desire to force people onto Line 2 rather than get them efficiently to their destination. More transfers are being added, beyond the transfers added when Line 1 opened. I guarantee this will result in fewer riders. I told them that 2 transfers means that I will not use the service.

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I think that the voter intensions and councillor platforms are not so clear cut. It was the mayor who specifically ran on a low tax increase platform. Was it just suburbanites who voted in favour of this? I think it was likely supported broadly.

Do you support a low tax increase platform? In the past you've suggested that the city is "broke". Who did vote for anyhow?

Those are rhetorical questions.

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I think that the voter intensions and councillor platforms are not so clear cut. It was the mayor who specifically ran on a low tax increase platform. Was it just suburbanites who voted in favour of this? I think it was likely supported broadly.

Majority of Ottawans live in the suburbs (thanks to a continuation of the vicious cycle of suburb-favouring city policies), hence Sutcliffe’s win in a city-wide election. It’d be disingenuous to suggest Sutcliffe would win in an election limited to urban wards, or even the entire inner-Greenbelt for that matter. It’s unfortunate that mayoral votes by ward aren’t published in the election results.

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Regardless, if plans are to lower costs, and it reduces ridership, there are false economies. Recent economies have been more than offset by revenue losses.

I agree. Too bad the city’s solution to that issue is to simply make more cuts (or more recently, layoffs).

In my opinion, it’s fruitless to attend these meetings and air your grievances with OCT staff. What do you expect them to do? They are guided by the wishes of council. You’d be better off knocking on the doors of your neighbours (start with the ones you said are scared for their safety on public transit) and ask them if they’d support a tax increase to properly fund transit service.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Suburbanite wants to have his cake and eat it too. Shocker.

I find unsubstantiated FUD like this on this forum sad. I would have thought people on a forum like this would want to back their opinions on statistics rather than speculation.

[vtecyo]

I suppose if we get into a full on transit death spiral - bus service will become bad enough it may actually become a significant election issue - even in the suburbs.

Ottawa is far from the worst city for suburban transit - but it can get so much worse.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

It’s unfortunate that mayoral votes by ward aren’t published in the election results.

They are: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/2022_Ott...tailed_results

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by roger1818

I find unsubstantiated FUD like this on this forum sad. I would have thought people on a forum like this would want to back their opinions on statistics rather than speculation.

Personally I think they have provided substantial evidence to support their viewpoint over many posts and across various threads on this forum. I think that comment in particular was aimed at a specific user in regard to contradictory stances on transit service and taxes.

And to touch on the issue of perceived anti-suburbanite sentiment that sometimes gets raised, I should clarify that, personally, when I use the term "suburbanite" I'm not referring to literally every single suburban resident. I use it more as a general term to describe people whose expectations fall along the lines of wanting more/better services but less taxes, while ignoring (or denying) the fact that suburbs generally cost more to service relative to their tax base than denser, urban neighbourhoods.

Of course, a decent chunk of suburban residents are aware of this dilemma and would probably support a shift in policy to at least partially correct this imbalance. You see signs of it in the election results. I definitely do not want to capture this group under the umbrella term "suburbanite," and I wish there was a better term to use instead.

Originally Posted by vtecyo

I suppose if we get into a full on transit death spiral - bus service will become bad enough it may actually become a significant election issue - even in the suburbs.

Ottawa is far from the worst city for suburban transit - but it can get so much worse.

It's sad that I've thought about this too and see it as a somewhat possible "solution". The potential issue is that improvements to bus service are made, but only in the suburbs. Recently released data showed Ottawa's busiest bus routes (obviously predominantly in the core) are also the most unreliable. Yet you have donkeys like Councillor Hubley saying buses need to be pulled and put in the suburbs where apparently they'll be put to better use.

Originally Posted by TransitZilla

They are: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/2022_Ott...tailed_results

Thanks for this. I had only checked the city's official election results page. Looks like the data mostly supports what I said earlier.

[rocketphish]

40 per cent of busiest OC Transpo buses not on time: report
Meanwhile, OC Transpo needs to hire 450 new operators to meet its performance targets this year.

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Published Feb 08, 2024 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 2 minute read

Nearly 40 per cent of buses on OC Transpo’s most popular routes don’t arrive on time according to a report delivered to the transit commission Thursday.

Data presented to the commission show that for popular routes — ones with service every 15 minutes or less — on-time performance between December 2022 and December 2023 averaged 62 per cent. The performance ranged from a high of 66 per cent in December 2022 to a low of 58 per cent in October and November of 2023.

Traffic was to blame for most delays since the popular routes travel on the busiest roads, but also because the timing of buses is managed differently on these routes, director of customer service, Pat Scrimgeour, told the commission. On routes where buses come every 15 minutes or less, proper spacing between the buses is more important than on-time performance, he said.

On-time performance was better on the less frequent routes where buses come every 16 minutes or more, Scrimgeour added, with a 74 per cent average over the same 13-month period.

Ridership on the LRT and conventional buses totalled 5.8 million last year, 700,000 more than 2022 but still short of the 6.2 million that had been forecast in the budget. Ridership in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 was 8.3 million. Fare revenue in 2023 was $12.1 million, up from $11.5 million in 2022, but below the $13.8 million forecast.

Para Transpo ridership climbed to 64,400 last year, exceeding the 52,200 that had been forecast. Para Transpo averaged 93 per cent on-time performance in 2023.

Meanwhile, OC Transpo is aiming to recruit 450 people this year to train as the new bus operators it needs to meet its performance targets. That’s nearly 20 per cent more than the 376 trainees OC Transpo hired last year, the commission heard Thursday. About 30 per cent of those recruits either failed or dropped out before completing their training.

OC Transpo is estimating a 25-30 per cent failure or dropout rate this year, meaning the 450 trainees should result in 330 new drivers.

Retention has also been a problem with more than nine per cent of new hires quitting within two years.

Transit General Manager Renée Amilcar said OC Transpo is aiming for 99.5 per cent reliability. In 2023, it achieved 97.8 per cent reliability on its bus service and 97.1 per cent on the LRT (excluding the three weeks last summer when the LRT didn’t run because of wheel/axle problems).

About half of the bus trips not delivered were due to “on-street adjustments” such as traffic congestion or construction detours, a third were blamed on absent operators, and 14 per cent due to mechanical breakdowns, Scrimgeour said.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...on-time-report

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

Do you support a low tax increase platform? In the past you've suggested that the city is "broke". Who did vote for anyhow?

Those are rhetorical questions.

I will say this, a political platform that suggests a tax freeze or tax increase well below inflation with the argument that economies will be found that does not impact services is nonsense.

I am not stupid, and my voting pattern over the years does not support platforms that are really naive at the least, or just plain lies.

Nevertheless, I am conscious of budget limitations and for this reason, I have made suggestions that cost little or nothing.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by vtecyo

I suppose if we get into a full on transit death spiral - bus service will become bad enough it may actually become a significant election issue - even in the suburbs.

Ottawa is far from the worst city for suburban transit - but it can get so much worse.

A death spiral will be sufficiently gradual that we will end up with voter apathy. People don't care anymore as more people bail out.

But, we are spending billions on a suburban oriented rail network, that is not going to be properly supported with a bus network to feed passengers. We already see that rail is lagging behind bus ridership. Rail ridership recovery is critical because it will otherwise drag the whole transit system down, because of the cost of operating it. It is already apparent that Line 2 will be an anchor on transit service in the south end. Inside the Greenbelt, Line 2 will deliver worse service because of the bus cutbacks that is not compensated by rail improvements.

[rocketphish]

OC Transpo to riders: Please pay for trips
When people don't pay it's demoralizing to drivers, transit staff say

Elyse Skura · CBC News
Posted: Feb 09, 2024 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

When people don't pay their fare it's demoralizing to drivers and frustrates riders who always tap their cards, City of Ottawa transit staff say.

They also argue that paying for OC Transpo will improve the system's reliability and help retain drivers.

Many aren't convinced and suggest doling out $260 tickets for not having proof of payment amounts to a poor tax.

OC Transpo has been cracking down on fare evasion, which spiked during the pandemic and has not come down since. A recent survey saw enforcement teams hand out seven tickets a day worth nearly $75,000 in total fines.

"It's unfortunate people don't want to pay," said transit services general manager Renée Amilcar. "Maybe they think that we don't care, but we do care."

<more>

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...alty-1.7109801

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

In my opinion, it’s fruitless to attend these meetings and air your grievances with OCT staff. What do you expect them to do? They are guided by the wishes of council. You’d be better off knocking on the doors of your neighbours (start with the ones you said are scared for their safety on public transit) and ask them if they’d support a tax increase to properly fund transit service.

Yes, public consultation meetings are usually a waste of time, but my voice has been heard, and that is important. Top OC staff have acknowledged the truth of my comments and the media has also heard me.

Getting into political arguments with my neighbours does not foster good neighbour relations. I am not doing that and I am not running for office. Politics is not my game. However, I do speak my mind on specific issues with people I know. That does not necessarily affect voting patterns where slogans are more important.