A crash between two buses on the Transitway near Tunney's Pasture left a dozen people injured and impacted the commute for thousands heading west late Tuesday afternoon.
Police say the call about the crash came in just after 4:20 p.m. Originally police reported 15 injuries with at least one deemed serious.
Paramedics say all passengers assessed suffered minor injuries and that 12 were taken to hospital. They are in stable condition.
"Luckily none of the patients sustained life-threatening injuries, all seem to be relatively minor; neck pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, that type of thing," said Paul Morneau. "We certainly handed out a lot of ice packs."
OC Transpo officials immediately rerouted Transitway bus traffic to Scott Street. It caused major backups between Albert and the Westboro transit station. Some commuters contacted CTV to say the Ottawa River Parkway was being impacted as well.
Riders were stuck in a long line of buses. They told CTV Ottawa's John Hua they were notified of a crash and asked to sit tight.
"We were there for probably 25 minutes just sitting," says transit rider Rae Congdon. "Some people were getting a bit frustrated but most people were pretty calm about it."
However, many waiting for those buses to arrive didn't know what to do.
"Well it's a little bit crazy because this is a busy road so I don't know how far blocked it is or how long it's going to take me to get home so it's a bit frustrating today," says Sherri Bregg.
"They made us get off our bus they said they couldn't go down this certain route so now I am catching two extra buses to get where I'm going," says frustrated rider Melanie Robert.
A source from the City of Ottawa told CTV the articulated buses involved in the crash are routes number 61 and 98.
Eyes on the ground say one of the buses suffered damage to its side and the other to its front.
The major rush-hour collision happened just hours before the hockey game at Scotiabank Place which typically helps to increase westbound traffic.
The Transitway reopened just after 6:30 p.m.
With reports from CTV Ottawa's Ellen Mauro, John Hua and Stefan Keyes