A group of Ottawa city councillors are encouraging residents to avoid using OC Transpo buses until full service resumes to the suburbs.
"I'm telling people in Barrhaven who have cars, who have been making do, not to take the bus," said Coun. Jan Harder on Wednesday.
"I expect there are going to be a number of residents who will stick with cars or their car pools and I certainly wouldn't dissuade them from doing that," added Coun. Steve Desroches.
Meanwhile, the city is offering a variety of incentives to help encourage bus riders to return to public transit.
OC Transpo service will be free to everyone until Feb. 15. December bus passes will also be extended to March 31. Transit users who hold express passes for December can use them until April 30. Those who hold eco passes won't get another payroll deduction until the end of April.
But many Ottawa councillors say the incentives aren't good enough for those whose routes won't resume until April.
"It's no great bonus that a service is free, if it's not available," said Coun. Rick Chiarelli.
Instead, transit advocates say service should be free once the entire network is up and running.
"I don't see that the rest of the people who depend on tickets and cash fares and who don't live near the Transitway or have a car -- I don't see that this is well thought out for them," said David Jeanes of Transport 2000.
Partial bus service is set to resume Saturday. However, it will not include transportation to Scotiabank Place for the Sens game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Although some main routes in the city's core will resume Monday, express service to the suburbs will be phased in through to early April.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Kate Eggins
