OC Transpo

[rocketphish]

A partial LRT shutdown, other transit tidbits as OC Transpo heads into summer
Transit ridership is still lower than expected, but could bounce back in September with federal public servants then mandated to return to their offices three days a week.

Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Published Jun 13, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 6 minute read

Portions of the LRT’s Line 1 will be partially closed this summer after Bluesfest wraps up, Ottawa’s transit commission heard Thursday.

Transit ridership is still lower than expected, but could bounce back in September with federal public servants then mandated to return to their offices three days a week.

Meanwhile, the best guess for the opening of the eastern extension of Line 1 is now summer or early fall of 2025.

These were among the updates that senior OC Transpo officials offered members of the transit committee during its last meeting before Sept. 12.

Here are some of the new services in the works for transit users, plus some of the holdups and inconveniences riders are likely to see in coming months.

Opening of the Line 1 eastern extension and Lines 2 and 4

When this will happen is still a big question, and no firm dates were given Thursday.

According to OC Transpo’s update, Line 2, running from Greenboro Station to Bayview Station, and Line 4, running from South Keys to the airport, will open in the third or fourth quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, the Line 1 eastern extension won’t open for at least more than a year.

OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar told the committee she wouldn’t give any specific dates, but councillors continued to press for specifics.

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney asked Amilcar if the Line 1 eastern extension would be open in time for the May 2025 annual general meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which will draw thousands of delegates to Ottawa.

The short answer to that question was no, Amilcar replied. When pressed by Tierney, she said the opening would be in the summer of 2025, but could possibly be in September.

“But it will not be in May for sure,” she said.

This is be the second slippage in delivery time for the eastern extension and people are getting frustrated, Tierney said.

“People thought it would be service delivery in 2024. Then I heard first quarter of 2025. Now I’m hearing it will be after the summer of 2025. We have a message to deliver to our constituents, and that’s a pretty big ballpark.”

New Ways to Bus

The opening of Lines 2 and 4 will be connected to New Ways to Bus, a new bus network consisting of more than 100 routes.

OC Transpo says riders will “see a shift from downtown-focused bus routes to routes that improve connections to community hubs and key destinations.”

It is also expected that some routes will be retired, but they will be replaced with alternative service nearby. There will be no changes to existing 300-series shopper routes and 400-series event routes. In some instances, there may be changes to 600-series school routes.

Riders will be hearing more about New Ways to Bus in the coming months. OC Transpo launched a webpage in the fall of 2023 and published the future network map, as well as an email address so transit users could ask questions.

The launch is now in its preparation phase, where users can learn more specific details. A “travel planner preview” is to be launched later in June on octranspo.com, allowing transit users to simulate future trips and explore schedules for their new routes. The final phase of the communications campaign will ramp up in the weeks leading to implementation.

There will also be changes to bus stop flags and posted information at about 5,000 bus stops. New and decommissioned bus stops will have information for transit users. The new bus stop flags will remain covered until just before the launch of the new bus network, at which point OC Transpo staff will go around the city and unveil the new flags.

Upcoming track and maintenance work

Annual track and maintenance work on Line 1 is scheduled for July 15-28, after Canada Day and Bluesfest. The maintenance will include regularly-scheduled work plus continued work on leaks in downtown tunnels and stations.

For customers, this will mean a partial shutdown from Tunney’s Pasture Station to Rideau Station. Line 1 will operate in both directions from Blair Station to uOttawa Station. During this time, R1 replacement bus service will run from Tunney’s Pasture to Hurdman stations. E1 shuttle express bus service from Blair to Lyon will expand to all hours of the day.

Partial closures of Line 1 are also planned for October, but they will be scheduled in the evenings after 11:30 p.m. and on weekends.

At the end of 2023, work was completed in the east end to connect the tracks at Blair Station with the new extension. That work did not require partial shutdowns, but it did require some single-track operations. There will be additional partial closures involved with connecting to the new extension, including a partial shutdown from St-Laurent to Blair stations. The work is to take place over a few Sundays or late at night.

Ridership

Ridership on OC Transpo has been down 6.6 per cent in the first five months of this year compared to the forecast. Post-secondary students are returning to transit in pre-pandemic levels and the number of high school students using the system has increased. The drop in ridership is due to a lower-than-expected number of adult riders travelling alone. Historically, these have been downtown office workers.

The return to work downtown continues to be lower than expected, but recent federal government decisions requiring onsite work three days a week is expected to increase readership. What that will look like depends on what days public service workers will be commuting, the transit committee heard.

Current OC Transpo use totals about 200,000 trips a day. If public service workers return to work Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, it would increase by 20,000 trips a day, according to OC Transpo’s rough estimates. If the return to work is spread out over five days, it would increase by 12,000 trips a day.

On-demand bus pilot project

A pilot project in Blackburn Hamlet that began Feb. 11 has tested the feasibility of on-demand bus service, allowing transit users to take trips in Blackburn Hamlet and to and from Blair Station and Gloucester Centre.

Under the pilot, bus riders booked same-day and next-day trips between select bus stops using a smartphone app or by calling OC Transpo customer service. The pilot project is scheduled to end June 23 with the regular fixed route 28 returning into service on June 24, but OC Transpo already considers the project to be a success.

It is planning the next steps to expand on-demand services as part of the transit network, including other days and times and introducing on-demand to newer parts of the city where there may not be enough riders to provide fixed or regular service.

City council has already approved the purchase of 10 minibuses for on-demand services, and the buses are expected to be delivered in 2025. OC Transpo will be issuing a request for proposals for the software required to offer on-demand services on a larger scale.

Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas told the transit committee she had used the on-demand system almost every weekend and her only disappointment was that the project was coming to an end.

“The on-demand has almost a neighbourly feel. We would be able to see the bus coming down the street. Numerous times the operator would see us, recognize that we were waving at them and they would pull over at the stop and wait,” Dudas said.

“Yes, there were one or two blips here and there, but people felt it was a good opportunity to try something a little different.”

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ds-into-summer

[rocketphish]

OC Transpo says on-demand transit is a success. These Para Transpo riders feel left out
Same-day booking not an option for Para Transpo users

Anchal Sharma · CBC News
Posted: Jun 16, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 16

Every Sunday for the last four months, transit riders in Blackburn Hamlet have been able to take the bus on their schedule rather than OC Transpo's.

The east-end neighbourhood was chosen in 2023 for Ottawa's first on-demand transit pilot.

The pilot has allowed riders to book same-day or next-day trips at bus stops in the area, or to and from Blair station and the Gloucester Centre, by using an app or calling OC Transpo.

At a transit commission meeting last week, OC Transpo officials told council members the pilot — which wraps up next weekend — was a success, based on increased ridership and the positive feedback from customers and staff.

"I can't think of one resident in the community who had a bad experience," said Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas, who represents Blackburn Hamlet, adding she used the service nearly every weekend.

But while the city is lauding the on-demand transit pilot, some Para Transpo users — whose minibuses were used to ferry Blackburn Hamlet riders around — are wondering when they'll get an equal level of service.

The Para Transpo minibuses used for the pilot were spare ones, and the city said that diverting them to on-demand transit would not interfere with regular Para Transpo service.

When minibuses aren't available or are out of commission, Para Transpo sends accessible taxis — and Lynn Ashdown says most of her rides have been on those taxis.

Ashdown uses a wheelchair and takes Para Transpo a few times a week for medical appointments, but finds it unreliable.

"The service is quite horrendous at times," Ashdown said.

Her main complaint is that, unlike for on-demand transit users, Para Transpo riders can't book same-day trips despite it being something "users have been asking for for many years."

There are currently 80 buses in Para Transpo's fleet, according to the city, with 64 operating during weekdays and only 44 needed on weekends.

At Thursday's meeting, OC Transpo said they are planning to expand on-demand service in other areas of the city and have purchased 10 new minibuses specifically for that reason.

In a statement to CBC, the city said they've also bought 82 new minibuses to replace the current Para Transpo fleet, with all of those vehicles expected to arrive by the end of next year.

Sally Thomas, another Para Transpo user, isn't holding her breath.

"They promised buses last year and there are still no buses," said Thomas, who sits on the board of advocacy group Ottawa Transit Riders.

Para Transpo minibuses, she said, are "long past their lifespan" and often breaking down.

If the city is looking to expand its on-demand service, Thomas added, they should start with Para Transpo.

Per OC Transpo's website, on-demand buses can accommodate up to two customers using wheelchairs or other mobility devices at a time, but customers must travel to and from bus stops on their own.

When Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr asked at Thursday's meeting if any Para Transpo riders took advantage of the on-demand pilot, OC Transpo officials said they knew of one customer with a mobility device who used the service during the trial period.

Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo also asked whether OC Transpo is considering making on-demand service available to Para Transpo users.

Transit services general manager Renée Amilcar said she has asked staff to work on something but did not "want to promise something I can't deliver."

Ashdown finds that news frustrating.

"It's quite disheartening as someone with a disability that I'm not afforded the same rights as someone who's able-bodied," she said.

In a report presented to the committee, OC Transpo indicated an increase of 7,000 Para Transpo riders in the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

Officials said they expect that number to keep rising.

That's not a surprise to Thomas.

"I've lived here for 35 years and [service] has gotten progressively worse — while the ridership has gotten progressively bigger," she said.

The on-demand pilot in Blackburn Hamlet ends next Sunday, June 23.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...-out-1.7236437

[eltodesukane]

Yesterday at Blair, sign says bus #12 in 5 min, but I waited 45m.
So at least 2 scheduled bus were no show.
And the ride to Parliament was so slow and overcrowded,
because of course at every stop people had been waiting for 45m.

And with so many people waiting for the bus on Jasmine,
it's a shame the future LRT won't stop there.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

And with so many people waiting for the bus on Jasmine, it's a shame the future LRT won't stop there.

It's even a worse shame that adding a station at Jasmine is pretty well out of the question now as well.

[J.OT13]

Frustrating that they put a station at the Montreal/174 wasteland but didn't put one at Jasmine to serve a dense low income community, arena, pool, library and high school.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Frustrating that they put a station at the Montreal/174 wasteland but didn't put one at Jasmine to serve a dense low income community, arena, pool, library and high school.

Was it just straight up classicim/racism. Nobody wants the problems of Jasmine to spill onto the LRT? Or is it just expensive there for some reason?

[orleans_man]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Frustrating that they put a station at the Montreal/174 wasteland but didn't put one at Jasmine to serve a dense low income community, arena, pool, library and high school.

I think if they were going to drop a station in favour of Jasmine it should have been "Convent Glen" in Orleans.

I can see Montreal/174 station as being ideal for bus/lrt transfer and for some future potential with the Canotek Business park. I think it offers more than Convent Glen does.

I think Jasmine has "fixed" ridership potential - by building there, they aren't going to "attract" any new riders to the system (I imagine that's the city's rationale). Maybe if the old Shoppers City East wasn't developed into Costco/Box Store mall there would have been TOD potential. But that ship has sailed for next couple of decades.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Was it just straight up classicim/racism. Nobody wants the problems of Jasmine to spill onto the LRT? Or is it just expensive there for some reason?

One could argue they were rebuilding the highway interchange anyway, so might as well, but the plan was initially to have the train run next to the highway until after the interchange. Can't prove it, but it's another case of classicism/racism (often corruption, but I don't think the word applies here) or utter incompetence.

Originally Posted by orleans_man

I think if they were going to drop a station in favour of Jasmine it should have been "Convent Glen" in Orleans.

I can see Montreal/174 station as being ideal for bus/lrt transfer and for some future potential with the Canotek Business park. I think it offers more than Convent Glen does.

I think Jasmine has "fixed" ridership potential - by building there, they aren't going to "attract" any new riders to the system (I imagine that's the city's rationale). Maybe if the old Shoppers City East wasn't developed into Costco/Box Store mall there would have been TOD potential. But that ship has sailed for next couple of decades.

I don't disagree that Convent Glen should have been reconsidered. It's a low density area with no potential for densification.

There's little potential for growth in the Jasmine area, but certainly you could entice people not using transit to do so. In addition to what I listed earlier, there are the Blair towers nearby. There's a pretty big phycological difference between a station at your office front door and one that requires crossing a busy car centric intersection twice, walking a narrow sidewalk and then through a parking lot, go up two flights of stairs and go down two flights of stairs.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by orleans_man

I think if they were going to drop a station in favour of Jasmine it should have been "Convent Glen" in Orleans.

I can see Montreal/174 station as being ideal for bus/lrt transfer and for some future potential with the Canotek Business park. I think it offers more than Convent Glen does.

I think Jasmine has "fixed" ridership potential - by building there, they aren't going to "attract" any new riders to the system (I imagine that's the city's rationale). Maybe if the old Shoppers City East wasn't developed into Costco/Box Store mall there would have been TOD potential. But that ship has sailed for next couple of decades.

3 stations so close together there for sure isn't ideal. It lets a handful of people a day walk and maybe adds a shorter but less frequent bus ride for some others.

[JCL]

This is a video of the bus operations over at Pimisi Station/Lebreton Flats area for the Canada Day 10pm Fireworks, including the staging of buses prior to 10pm taken last year (July 1, 2023).

(Note that the bus operations that you see in this video also applies to Bluesfest, except with less buses compared to Canada Day)

I expect the bus staging activities for tomorrow will be more-or-less the same as last year. But if there are any differences on how the buses are staged, we will find out after the fact.

• Video Link