OC Transpo 'Shopper Routes' connecting rural residents with city centres
For rural residents, it can be challenged to get from the outskirts of Ottawa to downtown neighbourhoods, but you may not know that OC Transpo offers a special bus service that helps get riders to city centre to go shopping, and it's free.
OC Transpo calls its 300-series "Shopper Routes" a "free and convenient way to get into town." There are five buses that each run one day per week in different rural communities.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
Suzanne McGregor uses the 305 bus on Fridays. She says it's something she looks forward to.
"It is my highlight for the week," she says. "I just love socializing with everybody. Even though I have a driver's license, I would not drive to Carlingwood mall nowadays."
The 305 connects Kars, North Gower and Manotick to Barrhaven Centre and the Carlingwood Shopping Centre every Friday.
"The service is very essential for these people and for anybody that's a senior or anyone that doesn't drive," said transit user Judy Schoenberger. "It's important because otherwise where you would be stranded if you don't drive."
Each Shopper Route serves a different rural community, operating one round trip every week. Buses arrive at urban shopping centres around 10 a.m. and leave at 2:30 p.m. to bring shoppers home.
"It's a free service, so anyone who's living in a rural area who wants to take the bus into the city, it transfers to or it stops at urban shopping destinations and it makes multiple stops along the way," said OC Transpo spokesperson Katrina Camposarcone-Stubbs.
OC Transpo bus operator Fayez Semaan says it's the highlight of the workweek.
"This route is gives me a pleasure to do it every morning because you go to different places and you get to know all the people around," Semaan says. "You see them once a week and you're so anxious to go from week to week to see how these people are doing and they're waiting for you. Honestly, it gives you that happiness like one big, happy family."
Shopper Routes
Route 301
Runs Mondays. Connects Richmond and Stittsville with Kanata Centrum, Bayshore, Lincoln Fields and Carlingwood.
Route 302
Runs Tuesdays. Connects Cumberland, Sarsfield, Navan, and Notre-Dame-des-Champs with Fallingbrook, Place d'Orléans, Gloucester Centre, and St. Laurent.
Route 303
Runs Wednesdays. Connects Dunrobin and Carp with Kanata Centrum, Bayshore, Lincoln Fields, and Carlingwood.
Route 304
Runs Thursdays. Connects Metcalfe, Greely, and Osgoode with South Keys and Billings Bridge.
Route 305
Runs Fridays. Connects Kars, North Gower and Manotick with Barrhaven Centre and Carlingwood.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Slovak defence minister says doctors are fighting for life of prime minister who was shot
The Slovak defence minister says doctors are fighting for the life of the country's prime minister, who was shot multiple times after a political event Wednesday afternoon.
Transport Canada's UFO 'lead' planned to meet with U.S. intel officials, called info requests a 'wild goose chase'
Canada's transportation department had a UFO 'lead' who tried to 'quell' media interest and planned to meet with U.S. intelligence officials.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver handed a cell phone ticket for using points app in McDonald's drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
'The Fly' has become notorious in France after a brazen escape. What's his criminal history?
A prisoner nicknamed “The Fly” has become notorious in France overnight after a daring and bloody escape from a prison convoy in Normandy that left two guards dead.
BREAKING Ontario's 'crypto king' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed 'crypto king' from Whitby, Ont., has been arrested in Durham Region after allegedly running a Ponzi scheme worth more than $40 million.
BREAKING Barge hits a bridge in Texas, damaging the structure and causing an oil spill
A barge hit a bridge in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a small island, officials said.
Person responsible for 1996 drugging of 'Titanic' crew likely not a local: Halifax police
Halifax Regional Police believe a non-resident could be responsible for the infamous drugging of numerous crew members of the 'Titanic' movie with a hallucinogenic in 1996.
Latest updates on the biggest wildfires burning in Canada
Thousands of people in Western Canada remain displaced from their homes as wildfires threaten their communities, triggering evacuation orders and alerts.
OPINION Your attention span is shrinking, studies say. Here's how to stay focused: Sandee LaMotte
Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology -- a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.