Chiarelli says review of OC Transpo operations needed to fix system

Bob Chiarelli during an interview with CTV News Ottawa after he kicked off his campaign for mayor by registering at the city's elections office Monday, May 2, 2022.

Ottawa mayoral candidate Bob Chiarelli is reiterating his plan to perform a top-to-bottom review of OC Transpo operations if he is elected mayor on Oct. 24.

The former Ottawa mayor has committed to such a review before, but issued a more fulsome statement Tuesday on what he believes needs to be done to restore trust in the city’s public transit system.

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“OC Transpo was once the darling of transit companies across North America,” Chiarelli said.

“That reputation is now in tatters. Fares and costs keep going up, and ridership, reliability, and performance levels keep going down.”

Chiarelli outlined 10 priorities for OC Transpo.

• Improve service reliability, including improved running times
• Ensure schedule adherence based on published schedules
• Improve service monitoring and control
• Significantly reduce the number of cancelled trips
• Improve scheduling/running times and reduce waste
• Consult with customers and operators and quickly implement improvements as warranted
• Implement options to improve service without extra costs
• Revise service based on customer needs and ridership levels
• Revise and improve special services such as school trips
• Reduce “out of service” time on buses to enhance service

Ottawa’s transit system has been affected by deep revenue deficits caused by a major drop in ridership since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. OC Transpo and Para Transpo ridership has not returned to 2019 levels and the transit service is projecting an $85 million deficit this year if senior levels of government do not provide additional funding, as they had in 2020 and 2021.

Chiarelli criticized the city for the deficit.

“[D]espite OC Transpo facing a forecasted budget deficit for 2022 of $85M, City Council have not taken any concrete steps to address the shortfall other than hoping upper levels of government will cover the deficit,” he wrote.

“All the attempts to fix the system over the past decade have failed. It’s time for a new approach.”

Transit has been a key issue on the campaign trail for mayoral candidates, including Chiarelli’s main opponents Catherine McKenney and Mark Sutcliffe. McKenney is pledging to increase transit operations by 20 per cent and is also vowing a full review, similar to what Chiarelli has promised. McKenney also plans to freeze fares and make riding transit free for anyone 17 and under. Sutcliffe is proposing to optimize routes to better reflect demand and traffic patterns in a post-COVID city. He is also vowing a one-year fare freeze for all transit users.

Election Day is Oct. 24. There is one more day of advance voting in all wards on Friday. To date, approximately six per cent of voters in Ottawa have already cast ballots.