The head of OC Transpo insists the transit system is ready for an influx of riders on the O-Train and buses this fall as public servants and students board the system. The City of Ottawa and OC Transpo are expecting an additional 65,000 trips a week into the downtown area as public servants head to the office four or five days a week and post-secondary students return to Ottawa for the fall. “We’re really ready to get people into this city when the federal government returns,” Rick Leary, OC Transpo general manager, told CTV News Ottawa’s Leah Larocque on Tuesday evening. “We’ve heard from our customers it’s about reliability. We worked on schedules. Thirty routes, which equate to about 51 per cent of our ridership, will see new schedules.” To help keep transit riders moving, OC Transpo is increasing the frequency on O-Train Line 1 Monday to Friday and introducing new Express routes from Park and Ride lots to the downtown core and Tunney’s Pasture. OC Transpo is also adjusting the run times on 30 routes that transport 50 per cent of bus riders to improve service. The routes are: 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 25, 30, 41, 42, 48, 51, 53, 61, 63, 73, 75, 81, 82, 85, 88, 117, 163, 178, and 173. Leary says 25 per cent of the buses being deployed every day are new buses. “That helps with the reliability,” Leary said. OC Transpo is expected to unveil updates to the Travel Planner and the Transit app this week with the new fall routes and bus and O-Train schedules. Council will also receive a memo outlining all the changes OC Transpo riders can expect this fall. “I’m looking forward to the amount of service we’re providing this coming fall,” Leary said. “We’re going to be much more reliable in the past, much more capacity, some newer buses, we can get you there faster. Just what the customers have asked for.” Starting in September, O-Train Line 1 trains will run every four minutes at peak periods, every six minutes midday and every seven minutes in the early evening. The first train on O-Train Line 2 will start at 6 a.m. The new express bus service will see buses run during peak periods serving Park and Ride lots, key employment areas and O-Train stations. Here is a look at the new Express Routes: O-Train East Extension The new O-Train East Extension between Blair Station and Trim Station should open by the end of this year, according to Leary. Construction on the East Extension reached substantial competition in March, but trial running has been delayed as OC Transpo and Rideau Transit Maintenance address spalling on the axle bearing assembly on all trains. Leary told CTV News Ottawa the testing on the East Extension is “coming along nicely.” “We’re testing it every day. I’m liking what I’m seeing,” Leary said. “We’re doing exactly what we committed to do: run the vehicles and, you know, find the little knickknacks that have to be adjusted. And we’re doing that now,” Leary said, adding he will provide more information about the East Extension to the Transit Committee in September. Leary says the new monitoring system has been installed on the axles of 80 per cent of the LRT fleet.
