OC Transpo reducing O-Train service to every 10 minutes during midday periods this fall

July 29, 2024 Canuck

OC Transpo is reducing midday service on the O-Train this fall from every 5 minutes to every 10 minutes, as tens of thousands of students and federal workers are set to return to the downtown core.

The OC Transpo website says starting Aug. 26, the Confederation Line will run every 10 minutes at stations between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays. Peak-period service will continue to be every 5 minutes, according to OC Transpo.

“This change adjusts Line 1 service during weekday off-peak periods to better reflect current demand and travel patterns,” OC Transpo says on its website.

“Line 1 will continue to offer sufficient capacity to meet off-peak passenger volumes. This change will be closely monitored. Should ridership increase, adjustments can be made.”

OC Transpo will reduce off-peak service to every 10 minutes this fall as thousands of students return to Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, and the federal government requires workers to be in the office a minimum of three days a week starting in September.

The O-Train is running every 5 minutes between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. this summer. When the Trillium Line launches this year, the north-south line is expected to run every 12 minutes at stations.

Acting Transit Services general manager Richard Holder told councillors the O-Train will continue to offer service for riders.

“The change in frequency will allow Line 1 to continue to offer sufficient capacity to meet off-peak ridership volumes,” Holder said. “This change will be closely monitored and, should there be an increase in ridership, adjustments can be made.”

Holder notes weekend service on the O-Train was adjusted to single-car service earlier this year.

“Our team is continually looking for ways to balance our resources while meeting the travel needs of customers,” Holder wrote. “Since implementing this change, customers have continued to receive frequent service with sufficient capacity to meet weekend service demands.

Community organizations and transit workers have raised concerns about the proposed plans to trim off-peak hours on the O-Train.

“This new change and proposed cut will cause significant service disruptions for riders as well as the thousands of members we represent,” Noah Vineberg, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279, said in a statement.

“As transit workers, we aim to provide the public with the best service we possibly can, this new proposal makes it harder to do that.”

The change in O-Train frequency comes as OC Transpo faces a multi-million dollar budget deficit and lower ridership than expected.

OC Transpo reported a $29.3 million deficit in 2023, and posted a $6.2 million deficit in January-March 2024. OC Transpo reported 29.5 million passenger trips on buses and the O-Train in the first five months of the year, missing the forecast ridership of 31.5 million trips.

On Friday, city staff said OC Transpo is looking at a Private Parking Levy as one option to fund OC Transpo operations.

In November, council appointed a working group of elected officials and city staff to explore “all mitigation levers and options.” In a memo to council, Chief Financial Officer Cyril Rogers says the working group has been exploring transit fares, the “sustainability and equity lens review of discounted passes,” the transit levy, operating costs, the Urban Transit Area and a Private Parking Levy.

“Much of the work completed to date has been focused on diving deeper into each lever to get a better understanding of the financial framework, analyze trends, and assess the impacts of various scenarios/options, supplemented by comparisons to other municipalities,” Rogers said.

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