Latest news with #OCTranspo
Ottawa Citizen
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Ottawa Citizen
OC Transpo sees ‘strong ridership' through Bluesfest
OC Transpo experienced 'strong ridership' throughout Bluesfest, which ran from July 10 to 20. Article content Line 1 saw an estimated 650,000 customer trips while Line 2 saw 87,000 customer trips, according to a Tuesday memo to members of city council from Troy Charter, acting general manager of transit services. Green Day's July 18 headlining performance saw the busiest ridership, with about 112,000 customer trips on Lines 1 and 2 combined. Article content Article content Article content Article content
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
OC Transpo touts strong O-Train ridership during Ottawa Bluesfest
OC Transpo is reporting strong ridership on all O-Train lines during Ottawa Bluesfest this summer. This year's edition of the popular music festival marks the first time that the north-south Line 2 and the Line 4 airport spur have been in operation alongside the east-west Line 1, which stops right outside the festival grounds at LeBreton Flats. 'Strong ridership was observed throughout the festival with an estimated 650,000 customer trips on Line 1 and 87,000 customer trips on Line 2,' said acting general manager of Transit Services Troy Charter in a media release Tuesday. Charter says the busiest day was July 18, when Green Day was the headliner, which had a combined 112,000 customers trips on Lines 1 and 2. 'Strong usage of the new Park & Rides connecting customers with Line 2 was also observed,' Charter wrote, though no specific numbers were included in the release. Festivalgoers could board an OC Transpo bus, an O-Train, or take Para Transpo using their Bluefest tickets during the festival. 'Transit service performed as planned. Signage was placed at various locations to help customers during the festival. Staff were at key locations to support customers throughout the festival, and announcements were made in and around stations,' Charter said. There was one hiccup with signage, when some people spotted mistranslated signs for eastbound travellers that said 'vers l'ouest' in French, which means 'westbound.' OC Transpo said the signs were quickly replaced. Charter said OC Transpo will continue to review operations to capture lessons learned and improve the customer experience at future major events. More than 250,000 people attended Ottawa Bluesfest this year.
Ottawa Citizen
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Hersh: Free Transit isn't just possible, it's popular
At the beginning of the month, our Mayor Mark Sutcliffe announced on social media that it was a record day for the LRT Line 1. Article content 'Almost 250,000 trips were recorded,' he said. 'The highest single-day ridership in the history of Ottawa's LRT, and a 66 per cent increase over Canada Day last year.' Article content Article content He forgot to mention an important detail: it was free. Article content Every year on Canada Day, the City offers residents a day of what they call 'no-charge' transit. They did the same thing at the beginning of May to encourage people to take the new LRT line. The result was similarly positive. Ridership was up 54 percent that weekend, according to OC Transpo. Article content Article content In December 2021, OC Transpo offered free transit for the whole month as a way to make up for the failings of the LRT. Despite it being a bit of a gimmick, the transit riders group Ottawa Transit Riders reported, based on a survey they conducted, that 'people chose to ride transit more often because it was free and some people changed their travel patterns.' Article content Other cities have also shown us that free transit is a popular idea. Article content Last month, Zohran Mamdani was elected as the candidate for the New York City Democratic Party. One of his biggest and most prominent promises was 'making buses fast and free.' Article content According to his campaign, it would save New Yorkers 36 million hours every year and generate $1.5 billion in economic benefits. The promise was also popular; according to a poll from the organization Data for Progress, 72 per cent of New York voters approved of the idea. Article content Article content Several other cities across the U.S.—like Albuquerque, New Mexico and Kansas City, Missouri—have also made transit completely free. The small Ontario town of Orangeville introduced free transit in 2023, and its ridership increased by 160 percent. Article content So, if fare-free transit is popular and might help encourage people to ride the bus or LRT, why hasn't our city jumped on the free transit train yet? Article content The argument is often made that there is a binary choice, that we must choose between reliability and affordability of our transit services. Article content Detractors argue that if we spend money on making our transit system free, then we would not have enough to increase reliability — something that is admittedly sorely needed in Ottawa, especially after Mayor Sutcliffe and our council approved the largest service cut in a decade in the last city budget. Article content This premise, however, presents a false choice — we can and we should have both. Our current approach makes clear that higher fares do not lead to a better, more reliable system, and the pandemic made it clear that solely relying on transit fares for revenue is not sustainable. Article content Ottawa's fares have now crossed the $4.00 threshold and are some of the most expensive in North America, yet our transit system has continued to disintegrate because of a lack of political will to improve it. Article content If ridership was up to pre-pandemic levels, free transit would cost the city about $200 million, according to OC Transpo's own estimates. This might sound like a lot. Article content However, when you consider other unnecessary expenses like the $258 million the city is projected to spend on road widening in the next couple of years, then the number does not seem that out of the ordinary. Article content Free transit on its own will not solve our transit woes. What it does do, however, is signal our city's willingness to prioritize the climate crisis, a cheaper alternative to car travel, and improve our most valued public services like health care, schools, roads and sidewalks — which by the way, are all free.
Ottawa Citizen
3 days ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Gay: The last thing OC Transpo needs is new electric buses
Article content Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and council continue the push to phase out Ottawa's diesel buses and replace them with electric ones. While this may sound like an environmental and fiscal win, it's not the solution Ottawans need. Article content If the city wants to lower emissions, the priority shouldn't be replacing buses; it should be getting more people to ride them. Public transit becomes attractive when it is three things: fast, reliable and affordable. People choose it when it's more affordable than ordering an Uber or paying for parking, and when it's faster than sitting in traffic. The real question OC Transpo needs to ask is: What will convince more people to leave their cars and choose the bus instead? That should be the first goal. Article content Article content Gas-powered buses emit far fewer emissions per passenger than individual gas-powered cars. Shifting more people onto buses will have a much greater environmental impact than shifting from diesel to electric buses — especially if ridership rates remain the same. Article content Federal and provincial subsidies should focus on boosting ridership. Expanding routes, increasing service frequency, lowering fares and offering competitive wages for drivers are all ways to incentivize a fast, reliable and affordable transportation system. Article content The need is clear. An active petition signed by more than 1,000 frustrated Kanata residents highlights the quality-of-life impact of poor OC Transpo service. 'Buses are less reliable'; 'The buses are never on time'; 'It takes us more than 2 hrs to get to downtown'; are just a sampling of the comments on this petition. Electrification won't fix any of that. Article content Article content Over half of Ottawa's buses are between 14 and 22 years old and should be replaced. But are electric buses the right choice? According to a recent article, the fleet still seems to be operating well for its age: just 0.4 per cent of trips were cancelled in May due to mechanical issues, and only 0.2 per cent due to unavailable buses. Replacing the older half of Ottawa's fleet should be a priority, but replacing them with electric buses — a $1.3-million dollar price tag compared to diesel buses at $650,000 — would double the upfront costs. Article content Article content Unlike many transit systems, OC Transpo must also take into account the extreme cold that Ottawans and their vehicles face. In extreme cold, the range of electric buses can be reduced by 40 per cent. Diesel buses are much more able to put up with Canada's winters. Article content Even the rollout of electric buses seems tumultuous. Coun. Tim Tierney recently voiced his frustration: 'Electric buses sound like a great idea, it's all rainbows and unicorns, but unless they actually get delivered, we have a problem and they're already years behind schedule.' At this point, he said, 'I'm not confident we'll see them.'
CTV News
3 days ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
LRT construction causes nearly 1,200 road closures in Ottawa's east end
It's a living nightmare for many commuters in Ottawa's east end, who have been frustrated from road closures and disruptions for the last three years. Construction on the LRT's eastern extension has gridlocked Beacon-Hill Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney's community, who says lane reductions, ramp closures and detours have been put in place without warning or purpose. 'We've been living this nightmare for three years, and there's a tipping point,' Tierney told CTV News Ottawa on Saturday. 'The tipping point is when they just decided not to inform the public.' A memo provided by Tierney from the city says there were 1,192 full or partial closures in 2023 and 2024 due to the east end LRT construction. In 2023, there were 488 closures. In 2024, there were 704 closures. Tierney says he expects that number to continue climbing in 2025 and will be requesting more data from the city. Along Montreal Road, commuters say closures happen sporadically and are often unable to access Highway 174. 'It's random opens, random closures and the information is usually too late,' said driver Melissa Linkletter. 'It makes people's lives really, really uncomfortable. I've been almost late for work. You sit in traffic and the other thing that happens is that people get road rage because they can only sit for so long.' OC Transpo says between July 4 and 6, electronic signage was not put in place by the contractor, Kiewit Eurovia-Vinci (KEV), for ramp closures at Montreal Road and Highway 174. In a statement, the transit service wrote, 'We are reviewing our processes and will be increasing oversight to ensure compliance with traffic control plans in the future.' Tierney says he isn't impressed with how KEV has been managing the closures. 'The constructor unfortunately, they're treating this like the Wild West,' said Tierney. 'Frankly, they've just been running this city, and that's not how it is. We're the clients. They're the ones building it for us and they have to learn to bundle things and make it less of an impact on the community.' Tierney says KEV has put closures in place at its convenience, neglecting the impact it would have on the community. 'They've closed roadways willy-nilly because they don't want to go out and do the required steps through the MTO (Ministry of Transportation) and the province to get paid duty police officers, to restrict traffic, to just simply close the lane.' Tierney says without proper notification, the city cannot update online GPS services such as Google Maps or Waze, which requires at least 24 hours for changes to be seen by drivers. Standing on the shoulder of Montreal Road at the 174 Saturday morning, Tierney pointed to a full lane closed off by traffic cones, as well as an on-ramp to the highway. 'This ramp is listed as open today,' he said referring to Google Maps. 'But clearly, this ramp is closed.' 'No construction has happened the entire week. So why are we blocking lanes unnecessarily and creating more havoc and chaos?' In a nearby strip mall, a new Greek restaurant says they opened about a month ago, but regret doing so because of the construction. 'If I had known it is like that, to be honest with you, I wouldn't open a place in this area,' said Rahim Mohsemi, manager at Royal Greek and Shawarma. 'We are not making that much money.' As for when commuters can expect the road work to clear up, Tierney says that may come as a surprise too one day. 'This train that they keep saying will be ready in September, it won't be. It just won't,' he said. 'We need to be able to have some peace and enjoyment of our community, especially over the summer. At least be informed, tell us when things are going to be closed.'
