It’s been one week since “New Ways to Bus” was launched in Ottawa, the biggest overhaul in OC Transpo history. Roughly 80 per cent of routes saw changes, either because they were cancelled, altered, or had new ones added.
There are some wins and some losses, but OC Transpo has said it expects the updated system to increase reliability with a goal of reaching 99.5 per cent, compared to 96.9 per cent in March 2025.
But there are cuts: There will be 74,000 fewer bus transit service hours per year. That’s a 3.5 per cent reduction in service. A portion of those — but not all — will be reallocated to the light rail transit system. Dozens of routes were cancelled including the 200 series buses which took passengers from the suburbs to the downtown core.
Will it be worth it? OC Transpo has argued that since it will now be working within its means, commuters will notice a positive impact on their buses showing up on time. But as Brigitte Pellerin highlighted in an Ottawa Citizen column, the transit agency doesn't have enough resources to begin with.
“First is the number of buses available relative to how many are needed on any given day to provide the service. The need is 540 vehicles. We have 519, thanks to a long maintenance backlog and insufficient workforce to address it. You don’t have to be a math genius to know this doesn’t add up,” wrote Pellerin.
“Then the buses that are on the road aren’t on time. In the last 12 months, 10 percent of trips arrived more than one minute early, and 16 per cent were more than five minutes late.“
Transitioning to local routes: A big part of the plan is a focus on localized bus routes within communities instead of transporting people directly downtown. Many routes were also changed to take buses to Phase 2 light rail stations, rather than directly downtown.
“You will see a shift from downtown-focused bus routes to routes that improve connections to community hubs and key destinations. Some customers may have to go further to the bus stop, have additional transfers to buses or trains, and/or have faster travel times,” says the OC Transpo website.
“In addition to fewer Connexion routes, some routes will be retired due to low ridership and to improve connections to new routes and the O-Train. Retired routes will be replaced with alternative service nearby.”
The downside: Many commuters will need to take more than one bus or train to get where they are going. Roman Hebert told the CBC he used to take the 99 from Barrhaven to Hurdman station, but now that route will only go to Limebank Station, where he will then need to hop on the LRT.
"If the train goes down (with) no backup then we're kind of left stranded," Hebert said. "If a bus went down, you could always wait for the next bus 15, 20 minutes later and then get on with your day."
Councillors weigh in with their thoughts
Over the last few weeks the Ottawa Lookout has sat down with various councillors from across the city to hear their thoughts. Overwhelmingly, the opinion is “New Ways to Bus” will only make the system worse not better, but some do have optimism.
Wins and losses in Barrhaven
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