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OC Transpo is the urban transit service of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. OC Transpo routes also provides service to the downtown core of the nearby city of Gatineau, Quebec, especially during rush hour. OC Transpo currently has a fleet of 1,217 buses (as of December 2009) that run on regular streets, of which roughly 862 are fully accessible.[4] [edit] FeaturesThe vast majority of regular routes are now served by low-floor buses. There is also a dedicated roadway bus rapid transit system known as the Transitway. OC Transpo utilizes many articulated buses to provide service. Some of the routes that run on the Transitway, including the city's most-used bus routes, are served almost exclusively by articulated buses (e.g. 95, 96,and 97).  In 2001, a pilot diesel-powered light rail service project, known as the O-Train, was introduced. The local government had announced expansion plans for the light rail to other parts of Ottawa, including a possible link to the Ottawa International Airport. Service to Gatineau would have also been possible, over the nearby Prince of Wales railway bridge over the Ottawa River. However, on December 14, 2006, City Council led by Mayor Larry O'Brien had cancelled the north-south extension project. A new model of the project, to have a city-wide integrated light rail system, has been made and the revised project should be completed by 2007, with work beginning as early as 2008. This new project upgrades one single section of the bus-based Transitway, but only does that after adding 65km of new busways. The final LRT system duplicates many of the existing busways, not replace them. It also includes the 2006 NS-LRT as a component. For a number of years, OC Transpo has carried bicycle racks on some routes as a part of the "Rack&Roll" campaign. These racks carry up to two bicycles at the front of the bus, and fold up against the bus when not in use. Although it started only on three routes, this service has been expanded to include routes 1, 2, 4, 7, 12, 14, 85, 95, 96, 97, 101, 102, 118 and 180, all articulated (long) buses and several new Invero low-floor buses (in addition, bike racks do randomly end up on other routes from time to time). Traditionally, the racks have been available only between April and October, and there has been much debate over continuing the program throughout the year. However, cyclists may use the racks at any time, on any bus that is equipped with a rack (including routes that don't normally offer them), provided there is room for the cyclist in the bus. Although Ottawa's population has increased by 25% (from 678,000 to 850,000) in the last decade, service levels have increased 14% from 1996 to 2006 (50 million km to 57.1 million km per year[5]), and ridership has gone up 15% from 80 million riders a year to 91.8 million. [6] There are three bus depots located throughout the city. The largest and headquarters is located at 1500 St-Laurent boulevard, with two other smaller but frequently used depots being located on Colonnade Road (Merivale Garage) and the other on Queensview Drive (Pinecrest Garage). The Queensview and Colonnade garages are usually for employees working during the rush hour and generally not used during weekends. For the latter two stations, it consists mostly of older buses although some articulated buses (in the 60xx's) can be found at Colonnade and other low-floor buses at both Colonnade (Inveros in the 42xx's) and Queensview (Orion VI). [edit] History[edit] 1973: FormationTransit in Ottawa was provided by the Ottawa Transportation Commission until 1973, when transit service in the city and its suburbs was transferred to the auspices of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. Its formal name was the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, but the service would be promoted in both English and French under the OC Transpo name, whose OC initials are derived from Ottawa-Carleton. [edit] 1979: StrikeThe 20-day 1979 strike was fought over a wage difference of a nickel and became known as "the five-cent bus strike." A pay increase of 16.5% was rejected by the union.[7] [edit] 1980s: TransitwayMain article: Ottawa Rapid Transit In the early 1980s, OC Transpo began planning for a bus rapid transit system, the Transitway. Construction of its various stations and segments followed over many years. The first segments were from Baseline to Lincoln Fields in the west end and from Lees to Hurdman in the east end. [edit] 1996: StrikeThe second strike for OC Transpo ran from November 25, 1996 to December 16. The strike ended under arbitration.[7] [edit] April 6 1999: Deadly rampagePierre Lebrun, a former OC Transpo employee and hunting enthusiast pulled into the transit garage located at 1500 St. Laurent Boulevard and went on a shooting rampage. Word of this act had spread out to all employees and as such many of them lay huddled in terror while the event unfolded. A sense of disbelief swept over OC Transpo employees and Ottawa-area residents alike. Transit users filed onto buses the following week and offered drivers their condolences. Others left flowers outside OC Transpo's headquarters. Police sifted through information to figure out what prompted Lebrun, a tall, lanky 40-year-old bachelor with a stutter, to show up at his former workplace with a Remington 760 .30-06 rifle - a slightly modified version of the weapon that James Earl Ray used to kill civil rights crusader Martin Luther King in 1968 - and his pockets stuffed with ammunition. "It's Judgment Day!" he shouted when he arrived. "You think it's bad now - just wait." Lebrun's mother offered one disturbing explanation: taunts by co-workers prompted, among other things, by her son's stutter, drove him to seek revenge. Lebrun's victims, all long-serving OC Transpo employees, were shipper Brian Guay, 56; stores clerk Clare Davidson, 52; and mechanics Harry Schoenmakers, 44, and David Lemay, 45. Another employee who was shot in the side was released from the hospital the following Wednesday. But why those well-liked employees were singled out remains a mystery. "These guys were the salt of the earth," said Ozzie Morin, a veteran employee on disability leave. "Nobody hated those guys. That's why I can't understand why this happened." In his suicide note, discovered by his parents in their home in Orléans, an eastern suburb of Ottawa, just as police called to tell them of the tragedy, Lebrun mentioned four co-workers he had problems with and three that he liked. But none of his victims' names were on the list. And as he strode through the building during his rampage, Lebrun, who quit his job as an audit clerk in January after 13 years with the company, encountered more than a dozen people - but opted to shoot only some. "It's very curious as to why he selected certain individuals to kill and permitted certain people to live," said Ottawa-Carleton regional police Inspector Ian Davidson. "He could easily have killed many more people." [edit] History from 2001 to October, 2008[edit] Transition to new city governmentThe province of Ontario ordered the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and its component municipalities into a single City of Ottawa municipality. When the new local governance took effect in 2001, OC Transpo became a department of the new city. Following amalgamation, a bilingual replacement backronym for "OC" was sought, but no suitable candidates have been found. The now-ambiguous acronym has been kept, instead of the costly task of replacing the decals on all buses, bus stops, bus stations, and promotional material.[citation needed] [edit] December 12, 2005: Southwest Transitway extensionA new section of the southwest Transitway opened on December 12, 2005, between the Nepean Sportsplex and Fallowfield Station. The new section runs parallel to Woodroffe Avenue and was built at a cost of $10 million. The new section has no stations and has replaced service along Woodroffe Avenue between the Nepean Sportsplex and Fallowfield Station. There are further plans to extend the Transitway south into the heart of the ever-growing community of Barrhaven where a new station called Strandherd opened on January 2, 2007. There are also long range plans for other extensions in the Orleans and Kanata areas to keep up with more growing communities there too. [edit] Winter Snow SnarlsA snowstorm on December 16, 2005, caused 107 OC Transpo buses to become stuck or slide off roads. Most of the problems occurred with OC Transpo's low-floor "pusher style" articulated New Flyer buses, which feature rear (trailer) drive wheels, meaning the front section of the bus is unpowered. At one intersection in Gatineau, six articulated buses either jackknifed or became stuck in the snow. The problems resulting from the 22-cm (9-inch) snowfall drew criticism across the city, as the buses snarled the commute for transit users and drivers alike. According to a city report, it was a "100-year storm" with 30 cm (12 inches) of snow. Official Environment Canada records show roughly 22 cm. However, it is possible that locally much higher amounts were reported, especially in the downtown area, closer to 30 cm or more. The articulated buses were already starting to get stuck at around 6:00 a.m. when only 10 cm (4 inches) of snow had fallen. By 6:45 am, the eastbound Transitway was completely blocked at the western end of downtown (Bronson Avenue and Slater Street by an articulated bus when approximately 13 cm (5 inches) of snow had fallen. Additional eastbound articulated buses failed to navigate the snow while coming from Lebreton Flats up Slater Street into downtown, which forced the morning rush hour passengers to abandon their buses and walk down Slater to their destinations. Approximately two years after the first snow snarl incident, several major snowstorms hit the National Capital Region, forcing OC Transpo to work with poor road conditions on several occasions. These snow snarls has brought criticism of OC Transpo and its fleet, and questions about whether or not the fleet that OC Transpo operates is adequate for Canadian climate. During weekend snowstorms, it parked most of its articulated buses and ran several older buses. [edit] December 14, 2006: Light Rail Expansion cancellationDuring the 2006 municipal election campaign, Larry O'Brien (who would be elected as mayor) was sceptical of the project's benefits, and promised to cancel the project if elected, assuming the City's legal position did not preclude this[citation needed]. After multiple votes deciding the fate of the city's north-south light rail expansion project, post-election City Council decided to annul the project by a margin of 13-11 on December 14, 2006. [edit] April 2, 2007: 39 Special Constables sworn inOn April 2, 2007 39 OC Transpo security officers were sworn in as Special Constables (Special Constable) pursuant to section 53 of the Police Services Act of Ontario which confers Peace Officer status. OC Transpo Special Constables have the powers of a Police Officer to enforce the Criminal Code of Canada, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Liquor Licence Act, Trespass to Property Act and the Safe Streets Act on or in relation to all transit vehicles and property. These Officers took an intensive six-week training course developed by Algonquin College. The uniforms worn by Transit Special Constables consist of dark blue pants with a royal blue stripe, light blue shirt and a forage cap with a royal blue band. The shirts have shoulder flashes with the City of Ottawa Coat of Arms and the words Special Constable. Special Constables carry handcuffs, batons and pepper spray, but do not carry firearms. [edit] October 29, 2008: 25th Anniversary celebrationTo celebrate 25 years of service OC Transpo held a number of events including: special guests, a decorated D60LF anniversary bus, tree planting, music, refreshments, giveaways, 25¢ fare on all routes, a countdown to the 1.5 billionth rider, and a transitway memories contest.[8] [edit] December 2008-January 2009: ATU 279 strikeOC Transpo drivers, dispatchers, and maintenance workers under Amalgamated Transit Union local 279 went on strike December 10, 2008 at 12:01am.[9] The main causes of the strike were disagreements between the City of Ottawa and the union regarding scheduling, payroll and seniority. Rona Ambrose, the Federal Minister of Labour ordered a union membership vote on January 8, 2009 on the city's contract proposal[10] in response to a request from mayor Larry O'Brien.[11] Both the city and the union published their positions on respective websites.[12][13] Vote results released on January 9, 2009 revealed that of those eligible to vote, 64% rejected the offer.[14] Meetings were held with a mediator throughout the month, but talks were repeatedly broken off. The ATU had requested to send all issues not related to scheduling to arbitration, which the city refused as they requested all issues to be sent to an arbitrator. As the strike entered the 50th day, Ambrose, who had initially refused to table back-to-work legislation, announced that such legislation would be introduced. However, on January 29, the city and the ATU reached a deal that sent every issue to binding arbitration, thus ending the 51-day long strike.[15] On February 2, 2009 the O-Train started service after being out of service due to the strike. Buses followed the following Monday February 9, 2009. Not all buses returned at once and OC Transpo said that all buses and routes were due to return by April 6, 2009. OC Transpo offered free transit for a week. December pass holders could either use their December passes until March, or could get a refund. December pass holders were also subject to a 60% discount on March passes in order to win back transit users. [edit] Stroller PolicyOC Transpo proposed a new stroller policy to the Ottawa tranist committee as a result of a high level of complaints from transit users, complaining the bulky strollers blocked passengers from entering or exiting the bus. However, it's not un-common for bus drivers to refuse strollers on buses. The new policy would limit the number of strollers on buses, and only allow one stroller on the bus. The stroller would have to be placed in the wheelchair area, located in the priority seating. If a disabled person in a wheelchair needed that space, then the parent would have to fold the stroller and stow the stroller away, and have their child sit on their lap. A day after the new policy was proposed, a large number of parents, attended the committee to discuss their outrage on the new policy. One woman demonstrated how difficult it was to fold a stroller, while carrying a child. Vivian Oser, a social worker, said the policy change would target low-income families and discourage them from using the buses to get around the city, especially in winter. On November 18, 2009, the Ottawa transit committe decided against the ban. Stroller users across Ottawa were glad that the ban was nixed, and would continue using OC Transpo buses. In October 2008, an OC Transpo bus driver was suspended after he drove off with a 2-year old girl aboard a bus, without her mother. The mother disputed with the driver, over the number of strollers allowed on the bus. There were two women, who both had strollers, but the driver would only allow one to board the bus. The bus was "pretty much empty", but the driver explained that he was concerned about over-crowding. [edit] OC Transpo routesMain article: OC Transpo routes OC Transpo has approximately 250 bus routes that are grouped both by their number and the colour with which they are represented on system maps and on bus stop signs. Colours Black: These routes generally operate 7 days/week from about 6:00a.m.-midnight Monday-Saturday, and from about 7:00a.m.-11:00p.m. on Sundays & most holidays. There are some exceptions however. If a route, or a section of a route, doesn't operate during certain time periods, it will be in stripes on the bus stop flag, and grey on here. If you see a route in orange on here, it means that it only operates during certain times, such as evenings or weekends only. Red: These routes generally operate 5 days/week from 6:00a.m.-9:00a.m., and from about 3:00p.m.-6:00p.m. Green: These routes generally operate 5 days/week from 6:00a.m.-9:00a.m., and from about 3:00p.m.-6:00p.m. All green routes travel towards downtown in the morning, and away from downtown in the afternoon. Blue: These routes generally operate 5 days/week from about 4:00a.m.-6:00a.m. in one direction only. Numbers OC Transpo classes its routes according to the following numerical groups: 1-19: These are mainline or local routes that operate to, from or through downtown along major roads or in urban communities. 20-79: These are rush hour express routes from downtown to suburban areas. The 20s and 30s serve the east end, including Orleans; the 40s serve the south end; the 50s serve the west end; the 60s primarily serve Kanata and the 70s primarily serve Barrhaven. 80-89: Similar to routes 1-19, these are mainline routes that operate through downtown along major roads, spending more time on the Transitway. (82 and 88 are peak-period routes) 90-99: These are rapid transit routes that go downtown, spending most of the time on the Transitway. Routes 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 and 99 are the core of the entire system.
110-119: These are regular routes that travel cross-town (generally across the Rideau River), but bypass downtown. (Note:Route 115 is an exception as it serves a residential area south of Billings Bridge, replacing parts of Route 5) 120-199: These are mostly local routes that usually connect residential areas or business areas to Transitway stations. (A few, such as Routes 176 and 182, are cross-town routes.) Some regular local routes continue to/from downtown during peak periods as an alternative to express service. This number range also includes a number of 'reverse commuter' routes that run in rush hour to connect major suburban employment areas to the Transitway. 200-299: Rural express routes serving areas beyond the 'Urban Transit Area'. 306 and 316: Special community routes (only two currently exist). 401-406: Special service to Scotiabank Place for Ottawa Senators games, and a multitude of other events. 500-599: Rural service operated by partner bus lines. 600-699: Special school routes. These routes are usually not shown on the bus stop flag except at Transitway stations, mall terminals (example: Hazeldean Mall), and on streets where there is no other bus service available. 740: O-Train replacement bus service if only one or no trains are available. 800-899: Early morning service. These routes are not shown on the bus stop flag, but rather by a sun indicating the presence of early morning service at the stop. 900-999: Employee shuttles for OC Transpo employees only at times and places with no service (mostly overnight). [edit] Active fleet
Only models with at least some buses currently in service are listed, and the number in fleet is based on the number originally ordered. All GMDD models of 1982 or before (also known by many as fishbowls or New Looks) were retired by the beginning of April. In 2006 and 2007, OC Transpo evaluated a double-decker bus on the Transitway and express routes. This bus, an Alexander Dennis Enviro500 built by British firm Alexander Dennis can carry nearly 100 passengers. The initial service demonstration ran from June 28 to July 12, 2006, with a further demonstration under winter conditions in February 2007. The City of Ottawa has purchased three of the Enviro buses and they were delivered in November 2008. OC Transpo decals were added to the buses in December, but the strike delayed the introduction of these buses. The buses began revenue service in February.
[edit] Retired fleet
[edit] FaresAll fares are effective as of July 1, 2009. OC Transpo has 3 levels of fares for its buses:
Children 6 to 11 can ride for $1.50, or 1 ticket, and children age 5 and younger ride free. Tickets must be pre-purchased, and are available at outlets throughout Ottawa. You can buy bus tickets at various retail outlets around Ottawa and at certain bus stations. They include Baseline Station [Unavailable, due to construction], Lincoln Fields, St. Laurent and Mackenzie King(Inside Rideau Centre). Tickets are $1.15 each, but must be purchased in multiples of two. The former pilot project, which provided free conventional service for anyone with a wheelchair, mobility scooter, or walker, was terminated March 1, 2006. It has been replaced with a new one-year pilot project known as the 'Community Pass', which is only available to recipients of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) at a cost of $30.40 per month. O-Train tickets are $2.50 each, and are valid for 120 minutes after purchase. These tickets can be exchanged for 90-minute transfers when boarding regular-fare buses. These tickets are sold at O-Train stations for convenience. Monthly passes, day passes and valid transfers are also permitted as fares for the O-Train, but cash and tickets are not. Day passes are $7.00 and can only be purchased on the bus. Passes are as follows:
To use any of the above passes, the passenger must also have a valid OC Transpo photo ID, which is available for $8.25 for adults and seniors(65+), and $5.75 for students. Ecopasses are reduced-rate monthly passes that are available through participating employers in the city, which provide OC Transpo riders with single-card indefinite passes in exchange for a flat bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly payroll deduction. Transfers are given to passengers upon boarding and are valid for minimum 90 minutes in any direction, with stopovers allowed. As of the December 1, 2005 fare increase, OC Transpo had the highest basic cash bus fares of any major transit service in Canada. This fare was matched by STO, the transit operator across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec on January 1, 2006. York Region Transit currently has the highest cash fares in Canada, at $3.25. On July 2008, fares were be increased by 7.5% because of a shortage in funding for the City of Ottawa. This fare hike is supposed to be in effect until 2010 including a 6.5% hike in 2009. This meant Ottawa residents saw regular adult passes rise from $73 a month to $81 and adult express passes from $90 to $101 a month. However, cash fares remained the same.[20] [edit] Para TranspoPara Transpo is an accessible paratransit service available to Ottawa patrons who find it extremely difficult or impossible to use the conventional OC Transpo routes. Service is provided directly to the residences of eligible users who book trip appointments with a call centre at least one day in advance. Para Transpo drivers will provide some assistance to passengers to board designated vehicle and to access building entrances.[21] Para Transpo operations were contracted to First Bus Canada, previously operated by Laidlaw. On January 1, 2008, the City of Ottawa assumed complete control of this service.[22] The transit strike of 2008 did not interrupt Para Transpo service. However, Para Transpo service has encountered delays, facing the traffic increase due to the strike. [edit] AdvertisingAdvertising on OC Transpo buses is contracted to Pattison Outdoor Advertising. Advertising on bus shelters is contracted to Clear Channel Outdoor. [edit] Amalgamated Transit Union - Local 279The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279 is the OC Transpo employees' union consisting of over 1700 members consisting of bus operators as well as other staffing positions within the company, including mechanics located at various garage depots throughout the city. [edit] Gallery of bus models
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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