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
From AI running wild to collapsing ecosystems, government report outlines future disruptions
From artificial intelligence running wild to collapsing ecosystems, a new Canadian government report outlines 35 disruptions that could rattle the country in the near future.
B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
opinion Tom Mulcair: With Trudeau spiralling, Mark Carney waits in the wings
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Toronto Blue Jays fan struck by 110 m.p.h foul ball offered tickets, signed baseball by team
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
Matthew Perry's death is being investigated over ketamine level found in actor's blood, reports say
An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the “Friends” actor received the anesthetic ketamine, which was ruled a contributing factor in his death.
OPP continues to investigate boat collision north of Kingston, Ont. that left 3 people dead
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
Police in Ontario say suspects charged in armed home invasion near Toronto part of 'larger criminal network'
Police in Ontario say a group of suspects charged in an armed home invasion north of Toronto last year were driving a vehicle stolen in a carjacking in Calgary just one month earlier.
Stolen septic truck swerves through traffic, spike belt needed to stop it: Manitoba RCMP
A 29-year-old woman has been charged after police say she stole a septic truck from a Manitoba community and drove erratically on the highway.
Orphan orca's extended family spotted off northeast side of Vancouver Island
Members of a killer whale pod related to an orphan orca calf that escaped a remote British Columbia tidal lagoon last month have been spotted off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.