Transit Commission Meeting - 25 November, 2024

On Monday, the 25th of November, the Transit Commission met to discuss the budget, which was carried to City Council with some amendments. 

On the 13th of November, the City of Ottawa released its draft budget for 2025. The full Transit budget book can be found as a PDF here. A number of factors, especially a fare increase, caused outrage, leading to a strong public response. I'll be summarizing it in this article. I'll leave timestamps for different parts of the meeting, which can be found in this YouTube video. 

Route 88 service analysis: October 28th to November 24th

 This article analyses the reliability and behaviour of OC Transpo's route 88 over a period of four weeks, from Monday, October 28th, to Sunday, November 24th. Data from Transsee, as always. 

Route 12 service analysis: October 14th to November 10th

This article analyses service on route 12, which runs from Blair to Parliament through Vanier, over the four-week period from October 14th to November 10th. The data is sourced from Transsee. 

Analysis: Bank St bus lane through Old Ottawa South

Between September 29 and October 18 this year, the City of Ottawa implemented a counter-peak bus lane on Bank Street between Chesley Street and Aylmer Avenue; this lane was supposed to be active between 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM, but signage was mistakenly installed indicating that the lanes operated from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM, which was the original plan before the extra hour was axed in a motion by Councillor Shawn Menard. 

Yes. All ten hours a week, out of 168 hours in the week. 

This lane is used by the <6> bus, and, for the northern two of the lane's eight blocks, the <7> bus. This piece will only analyse the <6>, which uses the lane's full length. 

R2 service analysis: September 30th to October 27th

This article covers service on the R2 over a period of four weeks from September 30th to October 27th. The data was retrieved from Transsee. I was heavily inspired by Toronto's Steve Munro to start this series, and hopefully shed some light on OC Transpo's hideous reliability. 

 What is Transit Ottawa? 

For years, OC Transpo has been in decline. It's plain to see: service cuts which come annually, irregular service meltdowns which increase trip cancellations to 5% or more, and anemic ridership growth. Even though I don't live in Ottawa full-time anymore, it's painful to watch service decline as a cycle of cuts drives riders away from the system. 

I believe that one aspect of OC Transpo's service is under reported in particular: reliability. Any bus rider in the city will tell you, buses show up when they want to, and then disappear for long periods of time. It's  unreliable, and when the bus shows up, it's slow and crowded. Yet the LRT dominates the news cycle. 

On this blog, I aim to present data-based analysis of service, including reliability; as well as general analysis and suggestions to improve service, both no-cost and those with a cost. We can make transit the best option for transport in Ottawa, and all it takes is political courage. 

Thanks for reading.