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OC Transpo ridership struggles to improve but students may provide boost

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Ridership on OC Transpo continues to be well below pre-pandemic levels, but city staff are hoping a return to classrooms will provide a boost.

The transit commission met Wednesday for the final time in this term of council. It heard that ridership on the O-Train and conventional buses in July was 49 per cent of its 2019 level. There were 3.3 million trips on OC Transpo in July 2022 compared to 6.7 million in 2019. This also falls below the 5.5 million trips staff estimated would be taken in July in the 2022 budget. June ridership was at 56 per cent of its 2019 level, with 3.8 million trips.

Ridership typically falls in the summer months, but the lower-than-budgeted amount means lost fare revenue. The transit commission heard there is a projected $85-million deficit, driven largely by lower than estimated fare revenue. In July, OC Transpo made $7.1 million in fares, but it had budgeted for $11.8 million.

While ridership levels remain low, they have improved since 2021. The 3.3 million trips taken in July 2022 is an improvement over the 2 million taken in July 2021. On average, ridership in the first seven months of 2022 has been nearly double what it was in that same timeframe last year.

While it remains unclear how much the return to school will improve ridership numbers in September, general manager of transit services Renée Amilcar said she believes the number of post-secondary students taking transit has returned to pre-pandemic level.

“We anticipate a return of 80,000 to 85,000 university students, but we’ll have more precise numbers at the end of the month,” she told reporters in French.

Amilcar also said many secondary school students are riding OC Transpo because of a lack of drivers for yellow school buses, which has caused some services to be cut back.

PARA TRANSPO RECOVERY STRONGER, BUT STILL BELOW BUDGET

Ridership levels on Para Transpo are recovering at a greater pace than conventional bus service, but remain below budgeted levels.

Ridership in August 2022 was 73 per cent of the 2019 level, with 49,400 trips. That's below the 60,100 budgeted for the month. 

Fare revenues on Para Transpo have been stronger than conventional bus service and the O-Train, hitting 99 per cent in July, but it fell to 86 per cent of budgeted figures in August.

Para Transpo users are still primarily booking their trips by phone. Wait times jumped in August to an average of just over eight minutes. In July, users were waiting less than three-and-a-half minutes on the phone to book a trip. Customer systems director Pat Scrimgeour said the wait times increased in part because of illnesses among customer service staff. 

On-time performance dropped slightly in August to 93 per cent from 94 per cent in July, which Scrimgeour attributed to an increase in traffic volumes as the pandemic evolves.

A ParaTranspo vehicle is seen driving through a residential neighbourhood in Ottawa on September 23, 2020.

90 NEW DRIVERS

Transit Commission also heard that 90 new bus drivers have been hired and trained, and are on the roads now, while another 67 started training in August; however, staff admit service levels are below 2021 levels.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 4, bus service saw 96.2 per cent reliability. Last year, it was 99.7 per cent.

OC Transpo cancelled hundreds of trips in recent months because of a lack of drivers.

“We have seen improvements since the May-June timeframe, but we recognize the performance levels we strive to achieve are not necessarily what our customers expect,” said director of transit service delivery and rail operations Troy Charter. “We’re pleased that we’re seeing an improvement and the recruitment and those initiatives are paying off but we know that we need to continue to focus on that recruitment and keep that moving forward.”

Charter told reporters that about 160 trips were cancelled last week, accounting for just under two per cent.

He added that the recruitment campaign would help improve the bus service.

“As we get more operators and more staff to reduce the number of unfilled trips, that opens up our staff to focus do other things and focus more on the on-time performance reliability,” he said. “We really need to focus on getting more operators.”

LRT SERVICE RECOVERING AFTER LIGHTNING STRIKE

Service on the Confederation Line LRT was 97 per cent in August, following a lightning strike in late July.

Part of the Confederation Line was offline for four-and-a-half days after part of the overhead catenary system was damaged during a storm July 24. Reliability took several days to return to target levels in August.

Reliability on the LRT was approximately 95 per cent in January (some data was missing), 96 per cent in February, 99 per cent in March, April and May, and 100 per cent in June before dipping to 91 per cent in July.

Sept. 14, 2022 marks three years since the Confederation Line opened to the public. 

An immobilized train sits on the O-Train track between uOttawa and Lees stations on Tuesday, after a lightning strike damaged the LRT infrastructure. (Josh Pringle/CTV News Ottawa)

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