New Ways to Bus: no new paradigm for OC Transpo

After two years of consultation, recommendations, and delays (mostly delays), New Ways to Bus goes into effect today, the 27th of April. 

These changes are extensive, with "changes" to nearly every route. Whether that's your frequency, routing, or travel time, OC Transpo is selling this as the biggest service change in its history. So I thought it would be a great time to deliver a stream of consciousness ... I mean, concise wrap-up of my thoughts on the new network. 

If there is anything major, I will, of course, report on that as well. And I hope to return with new ridership figures at the end of this year. 

Route 90 snapshot: 24 March-20 April

This article presents a "snapshot" of service quality on Route 90 between the 24th of March and 20th of April. Data sourced from Transsee. 

How do we measure reliability?

Introduction

At Transit Committee (TC) on the 10th of April, reliability was the big issue of the day. Reliability statistics, reliability breakdowns, reliability plans, the discussion was centered around reliability even if the solutions were not found that day. 

In light of this, and in light of my own criticism of OC Transpo's reporting of reliability, I wanted to ask the question: how do we measure reliability? And how should we? 

Transit Committee - 10 April, 2025

Introduction

On Thursday, the 10th of April 2025, Transit Committee held its third meeting of the year. Video link here, the meeting begins at 20:45. 

This meeting was a head-turner, and featured some good discussion of OC Transpo's reliability problems, and the hard questions needed to turn the service around. Unfortunately, there were no hard answers - but this is the closest they have gotten in a while, and I hope future meetings continue to push on this front. 

Though they could stand to be a little shorter!  

And a documents list, all linked to the City of Ottawa's website. I provide no guarantees this stuff won't link rot over time ... 

Staff update presentation (PDF) 

Light rail monitoring and compliance (PDF) 
Five-year roadmap update (PDF)

Transportation Master Plan: failure at City Hall, Pt. III

Introduction

On the first of April, the city released its Transportation Master Plan update. This is the third and final article in a three-part series on this joke. The first, link here, covers the contents of the plan. The second, link here, is a detailed rant on why this plan is terrible as a "Transportation Master Plan" (as opposed to, say, a feasibility study). This article will focus on how I think we got to this point, and what can be done about it. 

This article contains much speculation. You have been warned. 

Transportation Master Plan: failure at City Hall, Pt. II

Introduction

On the first of April, the City released its draft Transportation Master Plan, or TMP, and befitting this date, it's a complete joke. The TMP is a document that guides city planning on all transportation matters; this one is intended to go through 2046, though the document is irregularly updated.

This is the second part in my three-piece series on the new TMP. If you're not already familiar with it, take a read through part one to get an understanding of what the TMP is and how it came to be.

If you haven't read it, I encourage you to take a skim through the official TMP propaganda reports and get a sense of what I'm talking about.

Transportation Master Plan: failure at City Hall, Pt. I

Introduction

The City's new Transportation Master Plan (TMP) for transit and roads came out on the first of April after a last-minute delay from the day before. That the TMP was hastily pushed for a release on April Fool's is a level of symbolism that says everything essential about this bungled plan. 

Before we start, I think it should be clear that I strongly dislike the new TMP. I will oppose it as much as I can, and I encourage you to do so as well.

Route 44 snapshot: 24 Feb-23 Mar

This article presents a "snapshot" of service on Route 44 between the 24th of February and the 23rd of March. Data collected from Transsee.