One of Ottawa’s longest and oldest cross-town buses is being re-routed.
The number 11 bus, formerly the two, is being shortened as of September 2nd. Instead of ending at Bayshore Shopping Centre in the west it will now end at Lincoln Fields Station. The bus route has also been shortened to end in the east at Confederation Square instead of the Rideau Centre.
Doug Jesner lives just off Richmond Road and takes the number 11 every day.
“That will be an inconvenience,” he said. “Sometimes you’d have to wait ten or 15 minutes to take a second bus to Bayshore. It’s okay in this weather but in the winter it wouldn’t be good at all.”
The roughly 1 hour route is extremely popular in the west end with seniors and those with disability who live in the Lincoln Fields area. Residents say it’s the easiest way to get to the Walmart at Bayshore Shopping Centre and to other neighbourhoods along the route. The 153 goes in a similar direction but it is not nearly as frequent.
OC Transpo says the move is being done with light rail transit in mind. Taking the bus into Lincoln Fields Station will give riders, especially those on Richmond Road, easier access to the transitway.
“That’s as result of long standing request along Richmond Road to have better connections to Lincoln Fields Station where they can change to the transitway,” said OC Transpo’s Pat Scrimgeour. “Because of the way the roads are laid out, there has never been an easy connection between that part of Richmond Road and the transitway and we can do that by bringing route 11 into Lincoln Fields station.”
The route change is part of a major overhaul of OC Transpo’s more than 100 bus routes in preparation for LRT’s arrival in November. Many routes have already been re-numbered with more route changes set to take effect as of September 2nd.
Scrimgeour says riders who are uneasy about what their new commute will look like should go onto the bus service’s website for help.
A list of all the Fall changes can be viewed here:
