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OC Transpo is the urban transit service of the City of Ottawa , Ontario , Canada . Some OC Transpo routes also provide service to the downtown core of the nearby city of Gatineau, Quebec . OC Transpo currently has a fleet of 924 buses that run on regular streets, of which roughly 450 are fully accessible, and a dedicated roadway Bus Rapid Transit system known as the Transitway . OC Transpo utilises many Articulated Buses to provide high-capacity service. Some of the routes that run on the Transitway , including the city's most-used bus routes, are served almost exclusively by articulated buses (ex. 95 and 97). ]] In 2001, a pilot diesel-powered Light Rail service project, known as the O-Train , was introduced. The local government has announced expansion plans for the light rail to other parts of Ottawa, including a possible link to the Ottawa International Airport . Service to Gatineau would also be possible, over the nearby Prince Of Wales Railway Bridge over the Ottawa River . OC Transpo also administers a door to door transportation service, known as Para Transpo, for persons with disabilities that prevent them from being able to use OC Tranpo's regular, fixed-route transit service. For a number of years, OC Transpo has carried Bicycle Rack s on some routes as a part of the "Rack&Roll" campaign. These racks carry up to two bicycles at the front of the bus, and fold up against the bus when not in use. Although it started only on three routes, this service has been expanded to include routes 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 85, 95, 96, 97, 118 and 180, and all articulated (long) buses (in addition, bike racks do randomly end up on other routes from time to time). Traditionally, the racks have been available only between April and October, and there has been much debate over continuing the program throughout the year. However, cyclists may use the racks at any time, on any bus that is equipped with a rack (including routes that don't normally offer them), provided there is room for the cyclist in the bus. In the past, this service won an award for being the best in North America. Service levels have since declined, however, as funding cutbacks have led to route changes and reductions. Over the twenty year period, 1986 to 2006, OC Transpo has seen virtually no growth in ridership, although the city of Ottawa has grown exponentially during this time period. The system derives its name from the initials of the former Regional Municipality Of Ottawa-Carleton , which was merged into the City of Ottawa in 2001 . From 1973 until 2000 OC Transpo was an agency of the regional government, under the full name Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission. There are three bus depots located throughout the city. The largest and headquarters is located at 1500 St-Laurent boulevard, two other smaller but frequently used depots are located on Colonade road and the other on Queensview drive. APRIL 6TH, 1999 Pierre Lebrun, a former OC Transpo employee and hunting enthusiast pulled into the transit garage located at 1500 St-Laurent boulevard and went on a shooting rampage. Word of this act had spread out to all employees and as such many of them lay huddled in terror while the event unfolded. A sense of disbelief swept over OC Transpo employees and Ottawa-area residents alike. Transit users filed onto buses the following week and offered drivers their condolences. Others left flowers outside OC Transpo's headquarters. And police sifted through information to figure out what prompted Lebrun, a tall, lanky 40-year-old bachelor with a stutter, to show up at his former workplace with a Remington 760 .30-06 rifle - a slightly modified version of the weapon that James Earl Ray used to kill civil rights crusader Martin Luther King in 1968 - and his pockets stuffed with ammunition. "It's Judgment Day!" he shouted when he arrived. "You think it's bad now - just wait." Lebrun's mother offered one disturbing explanation: taunts by co-workers prompted, among other things, by her son's stutter drove him to seek revenge. Lebrun's victims, all long-serving OC Transpo employees, were shipper Brian Guay , 56; stores clerk Clare Davidson , 52; and mechanics Harry Schoenmakers , 44, and David Lemay , 45. (Another employee who was shot in the side was released from hospital the following Wednesday.) But why those well-liked employees were singled out remains a mystery. "These guys were the salt of the earth," said Ozzie Morin, a veteran employee on disability leave. "Nobody hated those guys. That's why I can't understand why this happened." In his suicide note, discovered by his parents in their home in Orleans, an eastern suburb of Ottawa, just as police called to tell them of the tragedy, Lebrun mentioned four co-workers he had problems with and three that he liked. But none of his victims' names were on the list. And as he strode through the building during his rampage, Lebrun, who quit his job as an audit clerk in January after 13 years with the company, encountered more than a dozen people - but opted to shoot only some. "It's very curious as to why he selected certain individuals to kill and permitted certain people to live," said Ottawa-Carleton regional police Insp. Ian Davidson. "He could easily have killed many more people." ACTIVE FLEET Only models with at least some buses currently in service are listed, and the number in fleet is based on the number originally ordered.
denotes wheelchair accessibility FARES (All fares as of December 1 , 2005) OC Transpo has 3 levels of fares for its buses:
Children 6 to 11 can ride for $1.50, or 1 ticket, and children under 6 ride free. Tickets must be pre-purchased, and are available at outlets throughout Ottawa. Tickets are $0.95 each, but must be purchased in multiples of two. The current pilot project, which provides free conventional service for anyone with a Wheelchair , Mobility Scooter , or Walker , ends 1 March 2006 . It is being replaced with a new one-year pilot project which will introduce a 'Community Pass' available only to recipients of the Ontario Disability Support Payment (ODSP) at a cost of $28.25 per month. O-Train tickets are $2.25 each, and are valid for 120 minutes after purchase. These tickets can be exchanged for 90-minute transfers when boarding regular-fare buses. These tickets are sold at O-Train stations for convenience. Monthly passes, day passes and valid transfers are also permitted as fares for the O-Train, but cash and tickets are not. Day passes are $7.50 if purchased on the bus, and $6.00 if pre-purchased. Passes are as follows:
To use any of the above passes, the passenger must also have a valid OC Transpo photo ID, which is available for $7.00 for adults, and $5.00 for students. Ecopasses are reduced-rate monthly passes that are available through participating employers in the city, which provide OC Transpo riders with single-card indefinite passes in exchange for a flat bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly payroll deduction. Members of the Ottawa car-sharing company Vrtucar may also apply for Ecopasses. Transfers are free upon boarding and are valid for 90 minutes in any direction, with stopovers allowed. As of the 1 December 2005 fare increase, OC Transpo had one of the highest basic cash bus fares of any major transit service in Canada. This fare was matched by STO , the transit operator across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec on 1 January 2006 . OTHER Advertising on OC Transpo buses is contracted to Pattison Outdoor Advertising . Advertising on bus shelters is contracted to Clear Channel Outdoor. .]] A snowstorm on December 16, 2005, caused 107 OC Transpo buses to become stuck or slide off roads. Most of the problems occurred with OC Transpo's low-floor "pusher style" articulated New Flyer buses, which feature rear (trailer) drive wheels, meaning the front section of the bus is unpowered. At one intersection in Gatineau, six articulated buses either jackknifed or became stuck in the snow. The problems resulting from the 22 cm (9 inch) snowfall drew criticism across the city, as the buses snarled the commute for transit users and drivers alike. According to a city report, it was a "100-year storm" with 30 cm (12 inches) of snow. However, official Environment Canada records show roughly 22 cm. The articulated buses were already starting to get stuck at around 6:00 a.m. when only 10 cm (4 inches) of snow had fallen. By 6:45 am, the eastbound transitway was completely blocked at the western end of downtown ( Bronson Avenue and Slater Street by an articulated bus when approximately 13 cm (5 inches) of snow had fallen. Additional eastbound articulated buses failed to navigate the snow while coming from Lebreton Flats up Slater Street . into downtown, which forced the morning rush hour passengers to abandon their buses and walk down Slater to their destinations. A new section of the southwest transitway opened on December 12, 2005, between the Nepean Sportsplex and Fallowfield Station. The new section runs parallel to Woodroffe Avenue and was built at a cost of $10 million. The new section has no stations and has replaced service along Woodroffe Avenue between the Nepean Sportsplex and Fallowfield Station . There are further plans to extend the Transitway south into the heart of the ever-growing community of Barrhaven . There are also long range plans for other extensions in the Orleans and Kanata areas to keep up with more growing communities there too. AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION - LOCAL 279 The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 is the OC Transpo employee's union consisting of over 1700 members consisting of Bus Operators as well as other staffing positions within the company including mechanics located at various garage depots throughout the city.
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