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 February, 2026

On the 12th of February, Transit Committee met for the first time in 2026. The video of this meeting can be found here. 

Since the last Transit Committee in November, bus service has continued to deteriorate, and adding to OC Transpo's troubles, most of the Line 1 fleet was ordered out of service after spalling was discovered on the cartridge bearing assemblies (CBAs). There is currently no timeline to return the trains to service. Most of this meeting was, understandably, dedicated to these two crises.

Despite the quixotic self-congratulations from OC Transpo and from Transit Committee, delegations and the state of service reveal a system full of problems. As long as councillors do not feel urgency on this file, transit will continue to be a whack-a-mole of acute and chronic problems. 

Documents from this meeting: 

• Electric Bus program inquiry
• Outstanding motions and inquiries
  

Transit Committee - 24 November, 2025

On the 24th of November, Transit Committee met for its sixth and final meeting of the year. The meeting link, for those interested, was uploaded to YouTube here. 

As the last Transit Committee meeting of the year, discussion centered around the budget. It includes $47 million in funding from the provincial government that may or not materialize, a small fare increase, and "savings and efficiencies." There was also some discussion around a David Hill inquiry on standardizing the transfer window following reports that commuters were paying double fares for a single trip and a Wilson Lo motion to staff to procure articulated diesel buses. 

Over twenty delegates appeared before the Committee on the budget, and a few delegated on a Wilson Lo motion to allow diesel bus procurement in the coming years. 

I have posted the documents for this update below. 

• 2026 Draft Operating and Capital Budget
• Multi-Year Budget
• Response to Inquiry: Central Park High School Routes
• Response to Inquiry: Line 1 and 2 Regulatory Oversight
• Inquiries and Motions ending 13 November, 2025
• Motion - 2026 Bus Procurement

Ultimately, the budget passed 8-1, with only Riley Brockington voting against and Marty Carr dissenting on the fare schedule. 

Stage 2 Update (Transit Committee) - 11 September, 2025

At Transit Committee, staff presented a Stage 2 update to council. This was a truncated version, due to time constraints, so this article will mostly be a photo dump, providing photos for those who do not wish to trudge through the meeting. Timestamp at 4:49:00. 

The relevant document is this report on Stage 2 progress. Meeting video here. 

Stage 2 Update (Transit Committee) - 12 June, 2025

Introduction

This is the second part to my update on the Transit Committee meeting on 12 June, focusing on Stage 2 updates. The first part, covering everything else, can be found here. 

The relevant documents are a report to city council at this link and a motion here. 

Stage 2 Update (Transit Committee) - 17 March, 2025

On the 17th of March, a Monday, Transit Committee met for the second meeting of the year. Video link. Meeting begins at 16:50. 

The Stage 2 update presentation begins at timestamp 3:35:30 in the video. 

LRT Sub-Committee disbands; the City of Ottawa must create a transparency culture

Introduction

The LRT Sub-Committee formed in February 2023, following the release of the province's Ottawa Light Rail Transit Inquiry, which among other things, found that City Council's oversight of Phase One was inadequate, partly blocked by the Mayor for political reasons. 

According to the City, the Sub-Committee's mandate is 

[To] provide oversight and focused attention on non-operational matters related to Ottawa’s light rail systems (LRT), including all light rail construction projects, as well as the City’s action plan in response to the Ottawa Light Rail Public Inquiry and other third-party reviews of the light-rail transit system.

Basically, the Sub-Committee is in charge of oversight of capital projects for the LRT project, which currently includes 2.5 projects (Stage 2 East, West, and the nearly-completed South). The group (I'm not typing out "sub-committee" over and over) met eleven times since its founding a little less than two years ago, and have reported on progress on the inquiry recommendations, as well as providing updates on construction. 

The Sub-Committee is made of councillors Steve Desroches, Cathy Curry, Glen Gower, Theresa Kavanagh, Jeff Leiper, and Tim Tierney, with Mark Sutcliffe as mayor. 

The City cited a high workload on councillors, as well as their progress in following the inquiry recommendations; the Line 2/4 opening exercise has been proclaimed a success, it seems, at the City of Ottawa.