OC Transpo

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

I was shocked to learn yesterday that OCT is still running E1 “express” buses between Blair station and downtown during rush hour. I had to commute to Blair station yesterday morning and saw an E1 bus starting its run at the bus loop as I was leaving the station. I counted a whole seven passengers get on this bus at approx. 8:10am which is pretty much the height of rush hour, when you’d expect loads to be the heaviest. Checking the schedule just now, I’m even more shocked to learn that this route operates every 10 min for 2.5 hours during morning rush and for three hours in the afternoon.

Where to begin? OCT deems it necessary to halve off peak frequency on Line 1 to save $1M yet it’s acceptable to be running a redundant bus service during rush hour for a handful of passengers? Not to mention, per the schedule, E1 only shaves a whole two minutes off the morning commute from Blair to Lyon stations compared to the O-Train (20 min vs. 22 min). And given the traffic situation these days, I’d bet in reality Line 1 is actually faster from Blair to downtown. Is there any good reason this route is operating or is it just another example of how OCT has lost the plot?

I think it was implemented a few years ago as an alternative to the R1 (which was taking a very circuitous route downtown). I was unaware it was running when the LRT was running. I agree with you that it is a rather nonsensical service.

[Lakeofthewood]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Ottawa politics in a nutshell:

• Video Link

Utopia (Australian version) is a hilarious show if you're into urban politics and design (basically everyone on this forum), but tough to find on streaming services.

[dougvdh]

Originally Posted by harls

That new parking garage at Preston and Carling is going to be gold.

With a mandated capped rate, it's always going to be full.

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Ottawa politics in a nutshell:

That is brilliant.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

I was shocked to learn yesterday that OCT is still running E1 “express” buses between Blair station and downtown during rush hour.

Don't be shocked. The suburban commuter must be coddled.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I think it was implemented a few years ago as an alternative to the R1 (which was taking a very circuitous route downtown). I was unaware it was running when the LRT was running. I agree with you that it is a rather nonsensical service.

It's not an alternative to R1. It's an alternative to the train after the running speed was reduced, because suburbanites' lives and time matter for something, whereas the daily clog-ups that steal time from people riding the 6, 7, 12, etc., are just intractable problems without any apparent solution (and Carleton students', etc., lives and time don't matter.)

[DTcrawler]

One of these days I might just have to do a little experiment to see if it's actually faster than Line 1, which I highly doubt even with some residual TSRs in effect. Even if E1 saves two min from Blair to Lyon compared to Line 1 as per the schedule, it's still a gigantic waste of money especially considering the dreadful ridership I saw (small sample size, I know).

Couldn't find anything online from OCT re: their decision to continue E1 indefinitely but I found this Reddit post in which people seem to agree it's not worth the resources.

[CanadaGoose]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

It's not an alternative to R1. It's an alternative to the train after the running speed was reduced, because suburbanites' lives and time matter for something, whereas the daily clog-ups that steal time from people riding the 6, 7, 12, etc., are just intractable problems without any apparent solution (and Carleton students', etc., lives and time don't matter.)

Carleton students are fixed revenue to OC Transpo. OC Transpo has minimal incentive to care.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by CanadaGoose

Carleton students are fixed revenue to OC Transpo. OC Transpo has minimal incentive to care.

Yup. See also the economically-transit-captive population.

[rocketphish]

Aging fleet, e-bus challenges push Ottawa back to diesel
'I worry that we are expecting too much,' says transit union president of delays

Elyse Skura · CBC News
Posted: Oct 10, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

OC Transpo staff are seriously considering purchasing more diesel buses — something the city had never intended to do again — as it gives up on plans for high-capacity electric buses and struggles to maintain its aging conventional fleet.

The capital's public transit agency is set to provide an update on Thursday for its e-bus procurement.

It includes information about the latest round of delays and the city's decision to give up on purchasing any of the longer, 18-metre (60-foot) electric buses.

"If we lose that, does this mean now we have to get more operators that we can't even get to be able to drive 40-foot buses on those schedules that will be overloaded," said Coun. Tim Tierney, who has been pressing OC Transpo on its e-bus plans for months.

"It's time to meet reality, figure out how we're going to fund more diesel buses and get them in here as soon as possible. Otherwise the whole system will collapse."

<more>

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ag...ges-push-ottawa-back-to-diesel-1.7327238

[J.OT13]

Well that's disappointing. Maybe we should consider buying used 60 foot diesels instead of wasting years on a new fleet.

[Uhuniau]

I am shocked, SHOCKED to learn that every concern I had about the rush to e-buses has come to be.

Usually one or two of my concerns end up being misguided.

[lrt's friend]

More bus cuts on the way because of lack of buses and operators? Now we may not meet requirements for capacity planning.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I am shocked, SHOCKED to learn that every concern I had about the rush to e-buses has come to be.

Usually one or two of my concerns end up being misguided.

Meanwhile we lose the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to switch and no new funds are imminent to support the system so people flee back to their private cars. Another boondoggle for sure.

[phil235]

Although...I had to drive at rush hour yesterday, which is something I rarely do and man was it bad. Almost an hour and a half from downtown to Westboro and back. (Also a festival of terrible driving behaviour - people blocking intersections, driving in bus lanes, running reds.) If that is indicative of what driving to work is going to be, there is going to be an opportunity to lure people back to transit.

Then I go to take the bus to work this morning and look at my app. Next bus in 26 minutes. On Bronson. At 8:30 a.m. On a Thursday.

My pessimism was restored.

[lrt's friend]

And I laugh and laugh. Automated speeding tickets going up for OC buses, can't buy buses or hire operators, fare enforcement generated over 900 tickets in one month because there has been no enforcement in years. We cry poor and need to cut service while ridership is up 11 per cent this year as public servants return to the office. It all seems like madness. It was reported on the radio that the service cuts are coming in April. A wise move when ridership is increasing and we are finally going after fare evaders.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by phil235

(Also a festival of terrible driving behaviour - people blocking intersections, driving in bus lanes, running reds.)

The intersection-blocking problem is noticeably worse than I've ever seen it before, and I don't get why there's not greater pressure, at least from OC Transpo, to start doing some damn enforcement.

[On Edge]

Originally Posted by phil235

Although...I had to drive at rush hour yesterday, which is something I rarely do and man was it bad. Almost an hour and a half from downtown to Westboro and back. (Also a festival of terrible driving behaviour - people blocking intersections, driving in bus lanes, running reds.) If that is indicative of what driving to work is going to be, there is going to be an opportunity to lure people back to transit.

Then I go to take the bus to work this morning and look at my app. Next bus in 26 minutes. On Bronson. At 8:30 a.m. On a Thursday.

My pessimism was restored.

The buses are stuck in that horrible traffic with everybody else. No wonder the system is unreliable.

[Richard Eade]

It seems to take more than two months for OC Transpo to officially figure out how many riders they had. The July numbers were presented to the Transit Commission in mid-September. Apparently, these were the latest numbers that were available. (Although Glen Gower has an OC Transpo Dashboard on his Website that has more recent numbers.)

For July, officially, there were 4.4 million customer-trips, an increase of 500,000 compared to the previous July – or, an increase of 12.8%.

There were bus route and frequency changes in August, 2024, and there was the call back to office by the Federal Government. OC Transpo assured the Transit Commission that they are “closely monitoring ridership”. But, when Amilcar was recently asked about September’s ridership, she was unable to provide an immediate answer. That doesn’t surprise me, since they haven’t even provided August’s official numbers yet. September’s numbers won’t be out until mid-November.

But the early information that OC Transpo did provide for September is that weekday bus ridership is up 4% over September 2023. And, apparently, ridership for the first 8 months of 2024 is up 11% over the same period last year, according to OC Transpo – although my math gives me a 9.3% increase.

Here are the ridership numbers that I have found around the Internet:

Month 2023 2024 Increase
Jan. 5.5M 6.0M 9.0%
Feb. 5.4M 6.1M 13.0%
Mar. 6.0M 6.2M 3.3%
Apr. 5.4M 5.9M 9.3%
May 4.8M 5.3M 10.4%
Jun. 4.6M 4.8M 4.3%
Jul. 3.9M 4.4M 12.8%
Aug. 3.3M 3.8M 15.2%
Sep. 6.6M
Oct. 6.4M
Nov. 6.6M
Dec. 5.8M

[Richard Eade]

Over 900 tickets for fare evasion, at $260 apiece, comes to about a quarter million dollars. It they had done this for the full year, that would have been roughly $4M* more in revenue! That’s more than half of the projected $7.4M in revenue shortfall.

[* I am using ‘City budgeting’ principles here; where if it happens once, then it can be counted on to continue forever. ]