Frustrated commuters air grievances to Ottawa transit commission

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Councillors on Ottawa’s transit commission got an earful Thursday from riders alarmed by potential cuts to service and soaring fares needed to dig OC Transpo out of its deep financial hole.

More than 30 delegations presented their complaints to the commission during the marathon six-hour meeting. The decision to reduce off-peak train service on the Confederation Line to once every 10 minutes from five minutes drew particular ire, as did a planned rejigging of bus routes once the Trillium Line LRT begins service.

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Delphine Robitaille of the University of Ottawa Students’ Union said OC Transpo’s unreliability and the reduced off-peak service threatened student support for OC Transpo’s lucrative UPass for students.

The reduction to 10-minute service between morning and afternoon rush hours and in evenings unfairly affects students, whose classes can begin and end at odd hours, Robitaille said.

“It’s not just a minor inconvenience. It’s a blatant disregard for the needs of the nearly 100,000 university and college students who make up a significant portion of this city and of ridership,” she said.

She called it an “existential threat” to the UPass program, which is worth $19 million to OC Transpo annually.

Another delegate, Hannah Tellier, said she couldn’t afford to rely on an unreliable LRT.

“When the LRT isn’t running and I couldn’t afford to be late for work, I’d have to take a taxi or an Uber to work, which frankly, I can’t afford,” Tellier said. “When it comes to transit, we shouldn’t settle for good enough.”

Another resident worried that changes to the No. 35 bus would make it even more difficult than it is now to go to the hospital where he cares for his aged and ailing mother.

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Once the delegations were done, it was the councillors’ turn. Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill worried that commuters caught in this week’s crush of public servants heading back to the office three days a week would be discouraged if they couldn’t get on “packed to the gills” express buses heading downtown from Fallowfield.

“That will kill any form of transit ridership or trust in the system from transit riders in Barrhaven,” Hill said.

He told the story of one resident whose ride home took so long that he exceeded the 90-minute allowance for transfers.

“The pleasure they got from their almost two-hour trip home ended up costing them twice as much money as a normal fare,” he said.

(If this does happen, transit staff said riders should call customer service, which can arrange a refund.)

The service reduction on the Confederation Line threatens “the spine” of the entire transit system, Kichissippi Ward Coun. Jeff Leiper warned. The change announced in July would save OC Transpo $600,000 this year and $1.8 million over a full year, but that wasn’t worth the harm it would cause, Leiper argued.

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Leiper brought a motion to the committee to overturn the reduction in service and to resume five-minute service. At the end of the long meeting, committee members agreed to refer that motion directly to the full city council meeting next Wednesday.

OC Transpo is facing a $25-million operating deficit this year, primarily due to the loss of ridership since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe warned of an even bigger $120-million structural deficit for transit in next year’s budget. It would take a 75-per-cent increase in fares to make that up, or a hike in the transit levy of 37 per cent, the equivalent of a seven-per-cent increase on property-tax bills.

Councillors also received an update on upcoming maintenance work that will cause two shutdowns of the Confederation Line in the next few weeks. On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 29, the Confederation Line will be replaced by R1 bus service while workers begin to integrate the signalling system of the Stage 2 east extension from Blair Station to Trim Road. The next weekend, on Saturday, Oct. 5, R1 buses will run the entire day to allow tests along the full length of the system from Tunney’s Pasture to Trim Road.

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