By Dominic Santos
Many residents of Lowertown have felt the frustration of trying to get from one end of Rideau Street to the other. This is especially true for bus riders using one of OC Transpo’s many bus routes that travel through Ward 12 and regularly get caught in traffic when many of them converge along Rideau Street. The 6, 7, and 14 are some of OC Transpo’s busiest routes in the city.
Although OC Transpo is promoting their “New Ways to Bus” adjustments, it will result in an over 3% cut to transit service. This is discouraging to hear but the Lowertown Community Association (LCA) understands the importance of reliable public transit to the quality of life for many residents. One of the LCA’s Transportation Committee’s priorities is to advocate for better transit service within and through Lowertown. With that in mind, the LCA is a signatory to the “Community Statement: Fixing Public Transit in Rideau-Vanier” prepared by Free Transit Ottawa. The statement outlines four main areas that need improvement – frequency, reliability, accessibility, and safety.
According to the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, and the National Capital Commission, the National Capital Region will experience an increase of approximately 700,000 residents before 2050. Until we prioritize public transit as the most efficient mode of transportation to move over a million people a day, many of those people will choose to complete their daily trips by car causing traffic to become exponentially worse.
The cost of car ownership has drastically increased to approximately $16,000 a year and many people feel forced to carry that burden to ensure that they are not late to work, class, or appointments. Vehicle exhaust is a major contributor to the climate crisis. In 2021, Health Canada estimated that air pollution causes over 6,500 premature deaths every year in Ontario alone.
One of the easiest and cheapest solutions to keep transit users moving are bus lanes – thankfully Rideau Street already has bus lanes along a section of the street during peak rush hour times. While the use of these bus lanes significantly reduces trip times for working commuters, the city claims that it also wants to ensure our transit system works for people outside of the traditional business hours. Extending the bus lanes to run the length of Rideau Street and continue into Vanier, as well as upgrading them to be well-marked 24/7 bus lanes would accommodate Ottawa’s changing work force demands and the many events that happen in venues along these bus routes at all times of the day and night.
Among many other needed improvements, the frequency of buses servicing some of Ottawa’s busiest routes remains an issue. OC Transpo wait times of 15 minutes are frequent, but travel to many other metropolitan areas in Canada and you won’t have to wait for more than five minutes for the next bus on their busiest routes.
Lack of reliability and frequency are some of the biggest hurdles to encouraging more Ottawans to use OC Transpo, and has led to a never ending transit death spiral of diminishing transit ridership and funding. There are proven solutions to our transit woes and we don’t even need to leave our city to see what better service could look like. The OC Transpo of yesteryear was well regarded and even set a positive example for other cities on how to improve their transit systems.
Editor’s note: This article derives from a more detailed analysis of traffic issues affecting our ward – Free Transit Ottawa’s community statement, “Fixing public transit in Rideau-Vanier” 28 May 2024. Free Transit Ottawa is a grassroots group of volunteer members working towards affordable, reliable, and accessible transit for Ottawa. They believe as a public good, the transit system should be funded robustly so it works for everyone, not just commuters.