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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 , mostly during rush hour. OC Transpo currently has a fleet of 967 buses (as of June 7 2006 ) that run on regular streets, of which roughly 625 are fully accessible. The vast majority of regular routes are now served by low-floor buses. There is also a dedicated roadway Bus Rapid Transit system known as the Transitway . OC Transpo utilises many Articulated Bus es 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 (e.g. 95 and 97). ]] In 2001, a pilot diesel-powered Light Rail service project, known as the O-Train , was introduced. The local government had 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 have been also be possible, over the nearby Prince Of Wales Railway Bridge over the Ottawa River . However, on December 14, 2006, City Council led by Mayor Larry O'Brien had cancelled the north-south extension project. 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 , 101 , 102 , 118 and 180, all articulated (long) buses and several new Invero low-floor 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. Although Ottawa's Population has increased by 25% (from 678,000 to 850,000) in the last decade, service levels have increased 6% from 1996 to 2006 (50 million km to 53.2 million km per year), and ridership has gone up 12% from 80 million riders a year to 89.6 million. [http://www.octranspo.com/about_menuE.htm There are three bus depots located throughout the city. The largest and headquarters is located at 1500 St-Laurent boulevard, with two other smaller but frequently used depots being located on Colonnade Road (Merivale Garage) and the other on Queensview Drive (Pinecrest Garage). The Queensview and Colonnade garages are usually for employees working during the rush hour and generally not used during weekends. For the latter two stations, it consists mostly of older buses although some articulated buses (in the 60xx's) can be found at Colonnade and other low-floor buses at both Colonnade (Invero's in the 42xx's) and Queensview (Orion VI). HISTORY 1973: Formation Transit in Ottawa was provided by the Ottawa Transportation Commission until 1973, when transit service in the city and its suburbs was transferred to the auspices of the Regional Municipality Of Ottawa-Carleton . Its formal name was the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, but the service would be promoted in both English and French under the '''OC Transpo''' name, whose OC initials are derived from '''O'''ttawa-'''C'''arleton. 1980s: Transitway See Also: Ottawa Rapid Transit In the early 1980s, OC Transpo began planning for a Bus Rapid Transit system, the transitway. Construction of its various stations and segments followed over many years. The first segments were from Baseline to Lincoln Fields in the west-end and from Lees to Hurdman in the east end. April 6 1999: Deadly rampage 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." 2001-present: New City of Ottawa Transition to new city government The province of Ontario ordered the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality Of Ottawa-Carleton and its component municipalities into a single City of Ottawa municipality. When the new local governance took effect in 2001, OC Transpo became a department of the new city. Following amalgamation, a Bilingual Replacement Backronym for "OC" was sought, but no suitable candidates have been found. The now-ambiguous acronym has been kept, instead of the costly task of replacing the decals on all buses, bus stops, bus stations, and promotional material. 12 December 2005: Southwest transitway extension 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 where a new station called Strandherd opened on January 2, 2007. There are also long range plans for other extensions in the Orleans and Kanata areas to keep up with more growing communities there too. 16 December 2005: Snow snarl 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. Official Environment Canada records show roughly 22 cm. However, it is possible that locally much higher amounts were reported, especially in the downtown area, closer to 30 centimetres or more. 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. December 14, 2006: Light Rail Expansion cancellation During the , post-election City Council decided to annul the project by a margin of 13-11 on December 14, 2006. April 2, 2007: 39 Special Constables sworn in On the morning of this day 39 OC Transpo security officers were sworn in as Special Constables at Orléans Theatre, which qualifies them as official police officers (Peace Officers). These members endured an intensive 6 week training course developed by Algonquin College. The uniforms worn by Transit Special Constables consist of dark blue pants with a blue stripe, a light blue shirt and a blue peak cap with a blue band. The shirts have shoulder crests with the Ottawa Police emblem and the words Special Constable. They are armed with handcuffs, batons and pepper spray, although they do not carry handguns or any type of firearm. OC TRANSPO ROUTES See Also: OC Transpo routes OC Transpo has approximately 250 bus routes that are grouped both by a colour and their number. Colours Black: These routes generally operate 7 days/week from about 6:00a.m.-midnight Monday-Saturday, and from about 7:00a.m.-11:00p.m. on Sundays & most holidays. There are some exceptions however. If a route, or a section of a route, doesn't operate during certain time periods, it will be in stripes on the bus stop flag, and grey on here. If you see a route in orange on here, it means that it only operates during certain times, such as evenings or weekends only. Some routes provide early morning service as early as 4:00a.m. on weekdays, and 5:00a.m. on Saturdays. Ottawa's three major transitway routes (95, 96, and 97) also provide early morning service on Sundays. The cash fare on regular routes is $3.00.
Only models with at least some buses currently in service are listed, and the number in fleet is based on the number originally ordered. All GMDD models of 1982 or before (also known by many as Fishbowls or New Looks ) were retired by the beginning of April. In 2006 and 2007, OC Transpo evaluated a double-decker bus on the Transitway and express routes. This bus, an Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 built by British firm Alexander Dennis can carry nearly 100 passengers. The initial service demonstration ran from June 28 to July 12, 2006, with a further demonstration under winter conditions in February 2007. The city has since announced a tender for the purchase of several such double-decker buses. The OC Transpo fleet numbering scheme changed in 1999. Prior to 1999, the two last digits of the year of purchase were the first two digits of the fleet number. The scheme was changed because OC Transpo ordered 140 Orion 06.501, and also because buses purchased in 2000 would have been in the 0000 series, which was not favoured by their computer system. The new numbering scheme starts with 2, 3, 4 or 6 (for the length of the bus), followed by a three-digit consecutive fleet number. denotes wheelchair accessibility RETIRED FLEET
GM Buses Orion Bus Industries FARES All fares are effective as of July 1, 2007. OC Transpo has 3 levels of fares for its buses:
Children 6 to 11 can ride for $1.50, or 1 ticket, and children age 5 and under 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 former pilot project, which provided free conventional service for anyone with a Wheelchair , Mobility Scooter , or Walker , was terminated March 1 2006 . It has been replaced with a new one-year pilot project known as the 'Community Pass', which is only available to recipients of the Ontario Disability Support Payment (ODSP) at a cost of $29.00 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 $7.25 if purchased on the bus, and $6.50 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 $7.25 for adults and seniors(65+), and $5.25 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 given to passengers upon boarding and are valid for minimum 90 minutes in any direction, with stopovers allowed. As of the 1 December 2005 fare increase, OC Transpo had 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 . PARA TRANSPO Para Transpo is an accessible Paratransit service available to Ottawa patrons who find it extremely difficult or impossible to use the conventional OC Transpo routes. Service is provided directly to the residences of eligible users who book trip appointments with a call centre at least one day in advance. Para Transpo drivers will provide some assistance to passengers to board designated vehicle and to access building entrances. {Link without Title} Para Transpo operations are currently contracted to First Bus Canada . Previously, the service was operated by Laidlaw . The city just announced that it is looking at taking Para Transpo over again. ADVERTISING Advertising on OC Transpo buses is contracted to Pattison Outdoor Advertising . Advertising on bus shelters is contracted to Clear Channel Outdoor. 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.
GALLERY OF BUS MODELS GMDD T6H-5307N
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