An Ottawa councillor warns the reduction in O-Train service during midday, non-peak periods could be part of a “death spiral of public transit” in the capital.
OC Transpo announced this week that starting Aug. 26, the Confederation Line will run every 10 minutes during midday, non-peak periods, compared to the current five minutes between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The reduction in service comes as OC Transpo faces lower ridership and a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
Coun. Sean Devine says he is worried Ottawa is “laying the groundwork for what’s called for the death spiral of public transit.”
“Just Google death spiral public transit, and you’re going to see it’s a condition when governments start to de-prioritize and they underfund public transit,” Devine told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron.
“That then leads to diminished service levels, which leads to customers getting frustrated and fewer people using transit because it’s no longer meeting their needs and then when government looks at the ridership levels they see that people are taking less transit so once again they de-prioritize transit funding and the cycle continues.”
Devine says councillors did not know OC Transpo was going to announce the reduced O-Train service this summer. The general manager of OC Transpo has the authority to make changes to service levels.
Devine questions why OC Transpo is reducing O-Train service when students are returning to the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, and thousands of federal public servants will be required to return to the office at least three days a week.
“What’s frustrating to a lot of people, why are we proposing a diminished service now to take effect Aug. 26 at a time when more students are going to be using transit, when more federal workers are going to be coming into the downtown core,” Devine said.
“If we truly want to adjust our supply based on demand, why don’t we wait until mid-October, see what the ridership levels are truly like and then make an adjustment if required.”
Devine notes other transit services across Canada are running their LRT, subway service every 5-6 minutes during midday, non-peak periods.
CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at how often the subway, LRT runs in cities across Canada:
Calgary
According to the Calgary Transit website, the C-Train Red and Blue lines run every 9 to 12 minutes during mid-morning and mid-afternoon non-peak periods, depending on the station.
Edmonton
Edmonton Transit says LRT frequency varies by LRT line and station and changes during peak and non-peak times.
According to the Edmonton Transit website, the LRT runs every 6 minutes to 16 minutes during non-peak, weekday periods.
Capital Line: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – every 10 minutes. 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. – every 6 minutes
Metro Line: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – every 16 minutes. 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. – every 12 minutes
Valley Line: 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. – every 10 minutes.
Montreal
The Montreal Metro runs every 3 to 10 minutes during the non-peak morning, day and evening service.
Here is a look
- Line 1 Green: every 3 to 8 minutes
- Line 2 Orange: every 3 to 8 minutes
- Line 4 Yellow: Every 4 to 10 minutes
- Line 5 Blue: Every 5 to 10 minutes
The REM runs every 7 minutes and 30 seconds during off-peak periods (9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.)
Toronto
The TTC website shows the Line 1 subway runs every 4-5 minutes during off-peak periods (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
Line 2 runs every 4-5 minutes during off-peak periods.
Line 4 (Sheppard) runs every 4-5 minutes during off-peak periods.
Vancouver
Here is a look at the midday, non-peak period frequency for the SkyTrain in Vancouver.
Expo Line: Waterfront and King George/Waterfront and Braid: 6 minutes. Waterfront and Columbia – 3 minutes. Waterfront and Production Way-University – 12 minutes.
Millennium Line: 6 minutes
Canada Line: 3-4 minutes or 6-7 minutes depending on the line