Transit Committee - 11 June, 2026

 On Thursday 11 June, Transit Committee gathered for its June meeting. The meeting link can be found here.

The meeting centered around the Customer First Action Plan announced last month, and provided reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic. The spalling problem seems to be receding into the rearview mirror, and the fleet is slowly improving, albeit with the temporarily cancelled trips (TCTs) still in place. However, this is not OC Transpo's first brush with great-sounding action plans which have not worked so well in reality, and their capacity for long-term planning and Council's ability to supervise such an undertaking remains in question.

The Stage 2 update and related talk has been quarantined into its own post again. That should hopefully be posted in a few days.

Documents list:

• OC Transpo Update - English
• Stage 2 Light Rail Transit Project
• OC Transpo Public Safety Strategy
• Motion - Saturday Service on OC Transpo Route 92
• Desroches - Response to Inquiry - Community Feedback for Limebank, Bowesville, and Leitrim Stations
• Carr - Response to Inquiry - Transit Station Elevators
• Carr - Response to Inquiry - OC Transpo Peak Ridership Definition and Service Planning

Route 48 service snapshot - 13 April-10 May

 Route 48 is an Alta Vista local route, running from Hurdman Station on Coronation Avenue and Russell Road to Elmvale, then south to Southvale, west on Walkley, and northwest on Kilborn Avenue to Billings Bridge. From there, it runs down Bank and Sunnyside to Carleton University and a Line 2 connection. This is the busiest post-New Ways to Bus local route, with around 3600 weekday riders.

Despite this, the route faces several challenges. Cancellations are high and peak period bunching is as severe as on frequent routes, leaving large gaps in service. Northbound service also lacks scheduled runtime. This all comes together to create a bus route that is unreliable on weekdays, especially during peak periods.

Transit Committee - 14 May, 2026

Transit Committee met for the fourth this year on 14 May. The frequency of meetings has increased since last year, likely in response to criticism that the Committee was not working hard enough to solve Ottawa's transit problems. 

This meeting brings mostly good news. An end to the 100,000 km limit on the Line 1 Cartridge Bearing Assemblies (CBAs) is in sight, and bus reliability continues to slowly climb upwards. However, service delivery will remain a problem in the foreseeable future, and general manager Rick Leary will continue to face difficult choices. 

Note: after I finished writing this post, but before I posted it, OC Transpo announced the return of full double-car service on Line 1 on 8 June. 

The video link to the meeting is here. 

Documents: 

• Update Presentation (English) 
• Inquiry - Number of conventional buses that have caught fire   
• Inquiry - Compensation for Transit Users 
• Transit Services 5-Year Roadmap: SCORECARD
• Annual Update – Transit Services 5-Year Roadmap

Bus After Midnight, Pt. I: the last bus of the day

Every day at midnight, transit service stops for the night, only to resume the next morning. Shutting down a transit service is more complex than it seems though, and an examination of late night service on OC Transpo reveals some patterns that are difficult to spot during the more complex daytime service. 

Evening service levels are lower than other periods for good reason. This period sees lower travel demand, and agencies schedule more service during the day when it can serve the most passengers and needs a lower subsidy, such as that seen in the TTC chart below. 

Note: while OC Transpo runs with a greater subsidy on most routes, there is no reason to believe that this pattern is different - ridership figures show lower passenger counts in the evening. 

But this is not a reason to abandon sensible late night network planning. As the chart above demonstrates, even in 2022, evening ridership was lower than it was at the peak of OC Transpo ridership in 2011. Night service often serves low income residents - service workers finshing work at the city's stores and restaurants, students returning home after late classes, and shift workers working late shifts. Additionally, many people occasionally ride late night service, and the availability of service may induce them to keep riding transit instead of switching to driving. 

This is the first of a two part series. This post will examine late night connections, especially last trips and Line 1 headways. The second post will look at the overnight bus network, focusing on coverage, scheduling quirks, and connections at Rideau Station. This will be more speculative than my usual, with some crayons in each part. 

Transit Committee - 9 April, 2026

On 9 April, Transit Committee met for its third meeting of 2026. 

This is the first Transit Committee since Rick Leary joined OC Transpo. Bus reliability is improving thanks to the better weather, e-bus deliveries, and lower service requirements during summer. However, the spalling problem with Line 1's CBAs (cartridge bearing assembly) has not been resolved, limiting train availability.

The link to the meeting video is here. 

Documents: 

• OC Transpo Update Presentation
• LRT Annual Compliance Report - 2025
• Inquiry (Marty Carr) - Number of Free Bus Passes

Stage 2 Update (Transit Committee) - 12 March, 2026

This is the second part of my update on Transit Committee on 12 March. The first part can be found here. 

Staff presented an update on Stage 2 LRT at that meeting. Stage 2 East achieved substantial completion right before the meeting, which is a big step forwards for that project. But the continuing spalling issue will affect the timeline for trial running, if it is not resolved soon, and there seems to be no indication that will occur. 

The only document: 

• Stage 2 Light Rail Transit Project
  

The Stage 2 update begins at timestamp 3:21:10 of the video, which can be found here. 

Transit Committee - 12 March, 2026

Another month, another Transit Committee. 

The spalling trouble remained unresolved and the surface network remained unreliable throughout February. Adding to these problems, an ice storm whipped through town the day before the meeting, causing Line 1's catenary wires to snap and forcing three days of R1 service on the network. 

The video link for the meeting can be found here. 

The Stage 2 update, as always, will be posted separately. This will include Committee's discussion of how the spalling issue may affect Stage 2 East's opening date. 

Documents list for this meeting: 

• Stage 2 Light Rail Report
• Motion - Implement of a [sic] Communication Protocol

Our new GM: a brief history of Rick Leary

Ten months after the departure of former general manager Renée Amilcar, OC Transpo has a new head: Rick Leary. 

You can watch the city's press conference introducing him here. 

Mr. Leary has held executive positions in Boston, York Region, and Toronto. According to the memo City Manager Wendy Stephenson sent to Council: 

Rick has extensive experience overseeing integrated bus, light rail, subway, and streetcar systems, with responsibility for operations, maintenance, safety, and long‑term asset management ... [his] experience includes managing aging infrastructure, supporting the integration of new and expanding services, and ensuring the successful delivery of capital projects.  

Given his extensive experience, I am confident that Rick is well positioned to lead the Transit Services department in an inspiring and empowering way while strengthening Ottawa’s growing multi-modal transit system.  

Actually, Mr. Leary has extensive experience in obfuscating service quality, hiding safety issues, and agency mismanagement. With his record, Council should question the hiring process that led to his appointment.