OC Transpo

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Disappointing. Considering how much "down-time" they've had and will have in recent times to fix leaks in the tunnel and the shut-downs coming up in June, I don't see why losing a couple hours here and there for major events should be an issue.

I don't think the issue was that they couldn't find alternate arrangements to complete the necessary maintenance, it's that they didn't see the need to do so.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Typically, OC Transpo has about 12,700 customer trips a day on spring Sundays, he said.

Saturday ridership in the spring is typically about 37,000 customer trips, while weekday ridership averages 67,100.

Is that LRT ridership, or OC Transpo ridership?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Is that LRT ridership, or OC Transpo ridership?

I assume the Confederation Line. OC's ridership used to be over 300k per day pre-pandemic. If they are at 60% pre-pandemic ridership, we could assume around 180k for the entire network.

That said, 67,100 seems low, even for just the train. Ridership was close to 200k pre-pandemic.

[Jay31]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

The difference in these two quotes tells the whole story:



And



Clearly, Fraser is looking at the issue from the perspective of someone who sought the ideal solution for the event. Someone with the aim of providing the transportation solution one would expect of a world-class event in a G7 capital.

The problem is, providing an "ideal" solution is no longer OC Transpo's mandate. Rather, it's to ensure the bare minimum standard is met, and nothing more. I don't even mean to sound like grouch, as staff have literally told us that such is their target, and Scrimgeour echoes that sentiment with his response. Yeah, I'm sure the math says that theoretically the expected number of transit users could have fit onto the scheduled night bus service. But how many people drove to the marathon instead of using transit because of the fact there was no Line 1 service? Oh, that's right, foregone ridership is not OC Transpo's concern. We just want to have a transit system for the sake of having one.

Agreed.., it's self-fulfilling. If the only transit available is shitty buses that run every 30 minutes... of course nobody is going to take them and they'll be "enough". Even the mayor was photographed parking at City Hall for the race, despite in theory living close enough to Tunney's to take the LRT...or even a bus.

[lrt's friend]

I work in a business that operates 7 days a week, including many young people who do not have cars. Staff requirements are higher on weekends because of the nature of the business. Staff need to on premises before 9 a.m. Most bus routes do not operate until after 8 a.m. on Sundays and holidays often on an hourly schedule. This means that staff scheduling has to exclude bus dependent people on Sundays and holidays. Lack of ridership becomes self-fulfilling and actually encourages people to buy a car when their job requires a flexible schedule, so in the long run, we lose transit riders on week days as well.

[rocketphish]

New OC Transpo payment options coming later this year
Riders will be able to pay for fares with credit cards and mobile wallet

Celeste Decaire · CBC News
Posted: Jun 01, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago



OC Transpo buses will expand payment options to allow passengers to tap a credit card or use a mobile wallet sometime later this year once readers are fully installed across the system.

Commuters will start to notice, if they haven't already, red smart card fare devices at the front of buses. On its website, OC Transpo wrote that once they're fully installed across the system, tap to pay will come into play sometime in 2023.

For some daily commuters, the option to tap and ride the bus is a relief, especially if someone forgets a card or does not have the exact change for a fare.

The current payment options include a Presto card, U-Pass, STO Multi card or, of course, cash, which comes with its own limitations. For example, if a rider pays the $3.75 fare with a $5 bill there is no change.

Since late April, smart card readers were made available on Para Transpo minibuses and taxis, which now accept a Presto card, credit card or mobile wallet on a smartphone.

The smart card devices are also being installed at all O-Train Line 1 stations, and some are already activated with specially marked white fare gates. They accept credit card and mobile phone taps with Google Pay and Apple Pay.

OC Transpo plans to add debit as a payment option at a later date.

"We want to make it as simple as possible for people to pay for the buses," said Coun. Glen Gower, who chairs the transit commission.

Gower said the readers have been installed on nearly all buses and now it's a matter of testing to ensure processing payments is secure. There will be an update on the rollout of this new system at the transit commission later in June, he said.

Laura Shantz, board member with Ottawa Transit Riders, said expanding tap to pay for OC Transpo buses is a positive, but the main fare problem remains.

"My concern is that we're still not addressing one thing riders have been telling us for a long time, which is that fares are just simply too high at the current rates," said Shantz.

The 2023 City of Ottawa budget approved free fare for children under the age of 12 starting July 1. Transit is currently free for children age seven and younger.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ders-1.6861019

[DarthVader_1961]

Can presto be added to apple walle?

[H>T&T>P]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

Can presto be added to apple walle?

Not on Google Pay either

[zzptichka]

Will it allow 90-minute transfer?

[Spoonsy]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

Can presto be added to apple walle?

no - and assuming the "trial" gates they had at LRT stations are using the same tech, they don't support Express Mode either

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Will it allow 90-minute transfer?

yeah, i know from experience you could tap the trial fare gate with the same card and not get charged

[CanadaGoose]

No fare capping for the week or month!?

[DTcrawler]

Anyone notice that these new readers aren’t very responsive? You have to hold your card to the reader for a solid “one Mississippi” for it to read properly, otherwise it declines. At busy stations where many people are boarding, 3/4 of the people will just wave their card at the reader, have it decline, and then have the driver wave them past anyways. Seems like a very silly way for OC Transpo to incur fare losses.

In fact, the first two times I used the new readers, my Presto declined, leading me to believe there was an issue with my card. The third time, I held it to the reader for longer and it worked, but not before I got two free rides.

This issue, on top of the one or two fare gates that seem to be malfunctioning and left open at most O-Train stations for people to freely walk through, I can’t imagine how much fare $$$ OC Transpo is just pissing away.

[llatch]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Anyone notice that these new readers aren’t very responsive? You have to hold your card to the reader for a solid “one Mississippi” for it to read properly, otherwise it declines. At busy stations where many people are boarding, 3/4 of the people will just wave their card at the reader, have it decline, and then have the driver wave them past anyways. Seems like a very silly way for OC Transpo to incur fare losses.

In fact, the first two times I used the new readers, my Presto declined, leading me to believe there was an issue with my card. The third time, I held it to the reader for longer and it worked, but not before I got two free rides.

This issue, on top of the one or two fare gates that seem to be malfunctioning and left open at most O-Train stations for people to freely walk through, I can’t imagine how much fare $$$ OC Transpo is just pissing away.

This has been my experience as well. I get consistent fails and have to retry 3-4 times before it works.

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Anyone notice that these new readers aren’t very responsive? You have to hold your card to the reader for a solid “one Mississippi” for it to read properly, otherwise it declines. At busy stations where many people are boarding, 3/4 of the people will just wave their card at the reader, have it decline, and then have the driver wave them past anyways. Seems like a very silly way for OC Transpo to incur fare losses.

..........

Good Day.

Not noticed especialy - but then I have always had to hold for at least one long Mississippi for all the generations of readers, and still gotten some yellows and reds.

But then I have always had problems with electronic and RFID cards and electronic systems of all kinds anyway, so, no big surprise or unexpected for me.

EnJoy!

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by llatch

This has been my experience as well. I get consistent fails and have to retry 3-4 times before it works.

Do you have another card bundled together with your Presto card? Or do you have your card in a sleeve of some kind?

[llatch]

Originally Posted by TransitZilla

Do you have another card bundled together with your Presto card? Or do you have your card in a sleeve of some kind?

Nope, just using the single card by itself.

[DarthVader_1961]

Originally Posted by llatch

This has been my experience as well. I get consistent fails and have to retry 3-4 times before it works.

At least twice a week I will experience this. Always thought because I was not actually tapping on the reader.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by CanadaGoose

No fare capping for the week or month!?

OC is exploring that option, but no timeline at this point.

[rocketphish]

Heritage streetcar told to hit the road after city reclaims garage space
Volunteers say decision puts Streetcar 696 replica in peril

Guy Quenneville · CBC News
Posted: Jun 05, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago



Heritage enthusiasts who've been working more than two decades to bring a relic of Ottawa's transportation past to life say the project is now in peril because OC Transpo wants to reclaim space at its garage.

Rheaume Laplante is the co-ordinator of the long-gestating Streetcar 696 Restoration Project, named after the last remaining 600-series streetcar that serviced Ottawa between 1915 and 1959.

Streetcar 696 wound up at a railway museum in Quebec, left to rot under a tarp, until it was brought back to Ottawa. In 2000, Laplante and others began building a replica, using mostly newly manufactured parts.

Their goal is to operate the 15-metre-long streetcar as a historic display in Lansdowne Park.

"It means a lot," said Laplante, a retired OC Transpo worker. "My dad used to go on the streetcars. He was talking about it all the time ... It brings back good memories."

But Laplante said the restoration group was told by OC Transpo in April the replica would need to be moved out of the agency's Merivale garage on Colonnade Road, at the group's expense, by June 30.

"This is an OC Transpo project. It's not my project," Laplante said. "It was my goodwill to work on this project."

The news they were getting the boot, he added, came only a year after the project was publicly lauded by former Mayor Jim Watson and the previous city council.

"I feel I've been betrayed and disposed of," Laplante said.

Larry McNally, the group's secretary-treasurer, agreed.

"We are months away from finishing the rebuild of the car body. Now the whole project is in the air," McNally said via email.

OC Transpo has supported the project for many years by agreeing to store the replica for free and allowing the group to use city tools and utilities, according to a statement from the city.

"Due to operational needs, however, including renovations as part of the ongoing transition to zero-emission buses, OC Transpo is no longer able to donate space to host this project," said Robert Lafontaine, the city's program manager of transit facilities maintenance, in the statement.

The city is consulting departments to see if a temporary location can be found until the group can find a new permanent home, Lafontaine added.

In an email Laplante received Saturday from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe's office, the mayor's director of issues and outreach, Scott Moffatt, said the need for space is "legitimate" after the city agreed to house their streetcar for nine years.

Alternative locations have been discussed, Moffatt said in the email, which Laplante shared with CBC News.

But none of the city-owned options would allow for the streetcar to be worked on.

"I do not believe it makes sense for the city to move the streetcar from one location to another unless the new location provides volunteers with the ability to continue restoring the streetcar," Moffatt added.

While offering to help with the move, the mayor's office strongly encouraged the group to investigate private storage options.

"I am sorry that I was not able to come to a more favourable resolution for you and your team of dedicated volunteers," Moffatt's email concluded.

"We certainly appreciate your commitment to this project, but the city has simply run out of options to be able to continue supporting the restoration."

David Jeanes, treasurer of the citizen transportation advocacy group Transport Action Canada, said he's hopeful "the real estate issue" can be resolved.

"The fact that OC Transpo wants to use [the garage] for a different purpose doesn't balance the important heritage value to the City of Ottawa and to OC Transpo," said Jeanes, whose group supports the restoration project and has provided it funding.

"People often forget that Ottawa used to be in an industrial city. It also represents our transportation history ... and the volunteers responded to a call from OC Transpo."

Laplante says he's not willing to move the streetcar, despite what the city says. Nor is working on the project outside an option, he added.

According to Laplante, the impending eviction is just the latest setback that's hampered progress on the restoration project in recent years.

First, the 2019 tornado damaged the streetcar, he said. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The project's volunteers are mostly retired, Laplante added. Four of them have died since the project began.

"I'm lucky to keep the ones I already have," he said.

With files from Ottawa Morning

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...tion-1.6864956

[J.OT13]

Ultimate goal is to have it at Lansdowne, so how about Lansdowne? Aberdeen and Horticulture are huge spaces. I doubt the loss of some of that space would be such a huge issue. Granted, I don't know how much space they actually need for the restauration project.