An OC Transpo bus turns onto Elgin St. from Wellington St. in downtown Ottawa, Ont. in this undated photo. (Photo by Shubham Sharan on Unsplash)
Ottawa's Transit Commission meets this Thursday to discuss its 2023 draft budget, but some details found in the citywide draft are already raising questions.
The 2023 draft budget for Ottawa includes nearly $54 million in so-called "efficiencies", the majority of which, more than $47 million, comes from the public transit file, but when asked about specifics, Transit Services general manager Renée Amilcar referred questions to an upcoming meeting.
"Transit Commission on Feb. 9 will give all the information regarding the budget for this year for transit," Amilcar said, speaking to reporters after the council meeting on Wednesday.
Some details are known. City officials have said 117 buses that are beyond their useful life or are too expensive to maintain will be retired. Acting chief financial officer Cyril Rogers also said the adjustments in capital spending are pending a service review this year.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe insists that the savings presented in the budget should not affect service.
Budget documents prepared for Transit Commission show $4.4 million in savings under bus and Para operations, including a projected savings of $1.5 million in overtime expenditures and $2.9 million in materials and services, defined further as a reduction in bus fleet size to match current service levels. The other $42.7 million that makes up the $47 million in transit efficiencies comes from a reduction in contributions to the capital reserve.
Delaying spending on long-term investments such as infrastructure has been part of OC Transpo's financial plan through the COVID-19 pandemic in order to maintain levels of service without requiring significant cuts. In past years, transit staff have discussed three plans, dubbed A, B, and C, which hinged on funding from upper levels of government, with Plan A being fully balanced through additional funding, B being delays to capital projects and C, the last resort, being service cuts.
The 2023 transit budget includes a $39-million injection from the provincial government, but staff acknowledge that the funding has not been confirmed.
"As senior levels of COVID-19 funding have not been confirmed at this time, apart from Public Health, all tax-supported COVID-19 pressures identified in the 2023 budget are assumed to be offset by provincial funding and the Tax Stabilization Reserve, if necessary," a report prepared for Thursday's Transit Commission meeting says. "Transit Services forecast COVID-19 pressures are assumed to be offset with the possibility that funding will be received from senior levels of government. If no funding is received, mitigations will be put forward as per the mitigation framework consistent with previous years approach during the pandemic."
Coun. Riley Brockington, who sits on the Transit Commission, told Newstalk 580 CFRA's CFRA Live with Andrew Pinsent on Sunday that capital deferrals may end up costing the city more in the end.
"At the end of the day, if you still have to build infrastructure, it's going to probably cost more in future years because of construction inflation and the overall increase in cost of everything we're seeing right now," he said.
He also said the $39 million line item based on assumed funding from other levels of government would need to be addressed at Thursday's meeting, particularly what will happen if that money does not materialize.
"In 2020, 2021 and 2022, upper levels of government have assisted public transit agencies with their struggles. We've been told in 2023 do not expect that," Brockington said. "Post-COVID, our revenues are not the same as pre-COVID. This is the lowest amount in the last four years, which is good, but it's still a $39 million deficit that we have to address."
The draft budget projects ridership at 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, meaning OC Transpo is expecting lower fare revenue overall, on top of a year-long fare freeze at 2022 prices, which staff estimate will cost an additional $5 million. In 2022, staff projected a ridership level of 85 per cent of pre-COVID norms, which was never achieved.
Brockington says transit users and taxpayers should pay particular attention to Thursday's Transit Commission meeting.
The draft 2023 transit operating budget is $706 million, or almost 16 per cent of the city's total $4.5 billion draft operating budget. It's an increase of just under $11 million from the 2022 transit budget. The 2023 draft capital budget for transit is $122 million, which is around $47 million lower than the 2022 capital budget. The four-year forecast summary is projecting more than $322 million in capital spending in 2024, followed by $129 million in 2025 and $186 million in 2026.
Sutcliffe told Newstalk 580 CFRA this week that there will not be an overall reduction in service, but he did say OC Transpo is reviewing routes based on service levels.
"That's the kind of thing OC Transpo has been doing for years. When there's less demand in a particular area… they stop or reduce the amount of service in an area and reinvest that money in another area," he said. "We're not talking about across-the-board cuts; we're not talking about major, major changes; we're talking about realigning the system to customer demands and Stage 2 of light rail."
Brockington said tackling the issue of transit reliability will be a key issue for this term of Transit Commission.
"If all people hear in the city, who don't take public transit, is how unreliable bus service or LRT service is, what's the incentive for new people to come into the system?" he said.
"That has to be a focus and I do believe the transit commission has to be a lot more direct with the general manager about a very clear plan for bus reliability in this city. What are they key issues that are influencing or impacting consistent reliability in our bus service? Let's open that up, let's have a much better understanding of those root causes."
Brockington said system-wide service reliability statistics are good "on paper" but they obscure local levels with particular routes.
"If there are routes that are consistently challenged to remain on-time or on-schedule, and you add that into the pot of all the other runs at all times of the day, all days of the week, those type of stats get buried and you never see them," he said. "Is it a scheduling issue? Is the run's schedule unrealistic for the operator? Construction issues, the flow of traffic? Try to get into that."
Transit Commission meets Thursday, Feb. 9, at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the draft 2023 budget. The full city budget will be finalized by city council March 1.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he feels it is his role to see the Safe Third Country Agreement upgraded, in order to make sure Canadians can continue to have confidence in Canada's immigration system.
The largest recorded earthquake in Alberta's history was not a natural event, but most likely caused by disposal of oilsands wastewater, new research has concluded.
Han Dong has announced he will be sitting as an independent MP after being the subject of foreign interference allegations.
A group of lawyers is racing against the clock to get Canadian children and their foreign-born mothers onto a plane that will soon be dispatched to repatriate detainees from prison camps in northeast Syria.
A federal source says the coming budget will detail how the Liberals plan to go after hidden or unexpected consumer fees, following the United States announcing its own crackdown on these charges.
Canada needs a 'Conservative renaissance,' former prime minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday, but he cautioned that Pierre Poilievre should wait until an election before telling Canadians how he might run the country.
The coronation of King Charles III will take place in May, in a ceremony that is expected to be less extravagant, while underscoring a new era for the Royal Family.
Two daughters of a retired optometrist suing Gwyneth Paltrow are expected to testify on Thursday about the lasting effects of their father and Paltrow's 2016 ski collision as the trial takes on an increasingly personal note on the third day of proceedings.
Parks Canada says its new online reservation system to book camping sites and other activities at national parks appears to have worked well during its first week of operations.
Two staff members who were stabbed at a Halifax-area high school have been released from hospital, while the student accused in the stabbing remains in custody.
Environment Canada has issued special weather statements in the Maritimes ahead of a spring mix of snow and rain arriving Thursday.
A Transportation Safety Board of Canada report has linked the fatal sinking of a Nova Scotia scallop dragger in 2020 to years of federal inaction on the imposition of stricter stability standards for fishing vessels.
This is what you need to know about the 2023 Ontario budget being tabled Thursday.
Police are searching for a 'vulnerable' young man last seen exiting his Richmond Hill, Ont. residence after an explosion and subsequent house fire.
An Ontario mother and father say their four-year-old was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour after doctors believed his symptoms were a flu-like virus for months.
It's been one week since a devastating fire tore through a historic building in Old Montreal, killing at least four.
Montreal has a new commissioner for relations with Indigenous peoples to work on the city's five-year reconciliation strategy. Laureanne Fontaine will start in June and take over from Marie-Eve Bordeleau, who assumed the role in 2019.
Macdonald High School in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue on Montreal's West Island was closed Thursday morning for 'security reasons.'
One person has died following a serious two-vehicle crash on Highway 11 north of Matheson on Wednesday night, police say.
The family of a woman who died by suicide in November 2020 while incarcerated at the Sudbury Jail is suing police and other officials for more than $2 million.
A Tottenham woman faces impaired driving charges for allegedly blowing four times over the legal limit after crashing into a vehicle in a school parking lot.
At least four vehicles were involved in a collision at the intersection of Wonderland Road south and Commissioners Road west at around 9:40 a.m. on Thursday.
Plans are in the works to connect the existing Oneida Water Supply System to the Lake Huron Primary Water Supply System with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) investing over $43 million to support the design and construction phases of this project.
It is what many people consider a safe space, secure in the confines of their own vehicle, but a stabbing on Richmond Row may have changed that for many. It happened around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon as a driver in a southbound car was waiting for a train to cross Richmond Street, just south of Piccadilly Street.
A day after four nurses resigned from a department at the Health Sciences Centre, more have followed suit.
There is a major risk of flooding on the Red River this spring, according to Manitoba’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre
One person is dead and five others are injured following a head-on crash on a Manitoba highway on Wednesday.
A fire at the former Dickson Bowl in downtown Galt has shut down a portion of a major Cambridge road.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating a crash near Belwood Lake that saw a 43-year-old Centre Wellington man transported to hospital.
Remembering the night he fatally shot Beau Baker outside a Kitchener apartment on Brybeck Crescent in April 2015, Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) Staff Sgt. Eric Boynton - who was a patrol officer at the time - testified he was worried about Baker killing himself or others.
TBA was started last year by long-time right-wing activist David Parker. It began as a way to push back against COVID-19 measures, but has since drastically grown.
If you were an Albertan waiting for a knee replacement in 2022 and you're still waiting, you're not alone.
A new political poll surveying Albertans ahead of May's provincial election shows a deep divide within the province, with the governing United Conservative Party and Alberta's New Democrats fighting neck and neck for support.
Saskatchewan is projecting a $1 billion surplus in the coming year and plans to spend just as much in paying down the province's debt.
The man charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ally Moosehunter took the stand Wednesday for cross-examination by the crown.
The Government of Saskatchewan is committing over $20 million for online learning as part of its record $3.1 billion education budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
The largest recorded earthquake in Alberta's history was not a natural event, but most likely caused by disposal of oilsands wastewater, new research has concluded.
Wearing her husband's police jacket, Ashley Ryan walked to centre ice at a charity hockey game in Spruce Grove, Alta., Wednesday night. She, a paramedic, then dropped the puck on the matchup that Brett was planning to referee.
Looks like we're in for some roller-coaster temperatures over the next few days.
Mounties in Surrey say a man they arrested last week for breaking into a home was also wanted by Burnaby RCMP, New Westminster police and the Metro Vancouver Transit Police.
Police on Vancouver Island have busted a vaping operation where nicotine- and THC-filled e-cigarettes were sold to youth at middle and high schools.
Dog owners in Trail, B.C., are being urged to keep their pets inside as Mounties investigate the deaths of two family dogs believed to have been poisoned with strychnine.
Saskatchewan is projecting a $1 billion surplus in the coming year and plans to spend just as much in paying down the province's debt.
A long list of Regina residents once again voiced their opposition to a downtown arena at a council meeting on Wednesday.
Saskatchewan’s healthcare spending will rise to record levels in the 2023-24 provincial budget but, after adjusting for inflation, critics say the boost is weaker than advertised.
