Better Transit Ottawa

The City Needs to be Bold with Bank What is "balance"?

To anyone who came out to the open house yesterday about bus lanes on bank... Wow, what an amazing amount of support. Unanimously every speaker, besides the BIA, said they want the city to be BOLDER!

We've written a summary of the event here : strongtownsottawa.ca/2025/09/25/t...

25.09.2025 22:40 — 👍 31    🔁 10    💬 1    📌 0

Thanks to everyone who came by to chat and help with the Park(ing) day event!

Unfortunately we only got to be in the street for a couple hours until we moved over to Kunstadt's parking lot (huge shoutout to them for letting us use it).

Our streets can be so much more with just a bit of change!

21.09.2025 17:28 — 👍 16    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0

@stephanieplante.bsky.social @rawlson.bsky.social @arieltroster.com @shawnmenard.bsky.social @octranspo.com

17.09.2025 21:15 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Screenshot from the Transit app, showing a 56 minute wait time for OC Transpo Route 7 during peak hours, and multiple canceled trips on Route 7 during peak time.

The next three 7s are cancelled at the start of evening rush. This is an every day occurrence due to the lack of working buses to run the schedule we need.

OC Transpo needs to order more buses to replace the over 15 year old fleet and hire enough mechanics to get the existing buses in service.

17.09.2025 21:12 — 👍 13    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 2

[A discord conversation] @Griffin: I leave y'all unchecked for 40 goddamn minutes and I come back to @Leitrim @Leitrim and @yukeira @Leitrim: Leitrim @Leitrim: Leitrim @Leitrim: Leitrim [The third @Leitrim is Griffin]

This is why you should join the Transit Fans Ottawa server discord.gg/T7HzadcpSX

16.09.2025 05:52 — 👍 10    🔁 2    💬 3    📌 1

Literally one parked car, likely with no one in it, holding up a 60' articulated bus, with maybe as many as 60 times the amount of people on it.

Which should our city prioritize?

strongtownsottawa.ca/bank/ Tell the city to at least try some proper dedicated bus lanes in the Glebe.

05.09.2025 23:58 — 👍 105    🔁 20    💬 5    📌 8

On September 16th, we will host Oh the Urbanity! for a talk about transit! Come listen, ask questions, and discuss strategies!

This hybrid event will be accessible by ramp and elevator; the online portion will have closed captioning.

Register here: tinyurl.com/6f9m9um4

#ottawa #transit #urbanism

07.09.2025 12:41 — 👍 27    🔁 9    💬 0    📌 2

"Staff are making arrangements to start service on O-Train Line 2 earlier from Monday to Saturday, aiming for a start date of September 2, 2025. The increased cost and maintenance pressures associated with an earlier start time would be offset by adjustments to the service frequency on O-Train Line 2 and Line 4 during lower ridership times. Monday to Friday, the first northbound train from Limebank Station will be at 5:01 a.m., matching the 4:56 a.m. morning start time of O-Train Line 1. On Saturdays, the first northbound train from Limebank Station will be at 6:13 a.m., shortly after the 6:00 a.m. start time of O-Train Line 1. No changes are being made at this time to the scheduled last trips or to the start and finish times of airport service on O-Train Line 4. The additional costs of this earlier service, six days a week, would be offset by some service reductions on O-Train Lines 2 and 4 at other times, when ridership is lower. Staff are working on possible frequency reductions late in the evening in the less-busy direction and on possible frequency reductions on Sundays. Trains on O-Train Lines 2 and 4 at these times would still run at least twice per hour." This is a quote from OC Transpo's response to Councillor Desroches's O-Train Line 2 Service Schedule Inquiry from September 11th's Transit Committee agenda.

OC Transpo is discussing potentially cutting off-peak Line 2 and 4 service to as low as every 30 minutes in response to council asking Line 2 and 4 to start at 5 AM.

Let your councilor know so we can avoid a repeat of last year’s Line 1 cuts and not fall down the public transit death spiral.

03.09.2025 00:41 — 👍 18    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 3

OC Transpo forecasting $47M deficit this fiscal year | CBC News Revenue falls short at OC Transpo as ridership remains stuck in lower gear and help from higher levels of government proves elusive.

OC Transpo forecasting $47M deficit this fiscal year
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

26.08.2025 23:46 — 👍 9    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 6

Join the Transit Fans Ottawa Discord Server! A server dedicated to the discussion of all forms of public transportation all across the globe with a focus on Ottawa and, more generally, Canada. https://bettertransitottawa.ca/ discord.gg/VWmEc9TQx...

In the future, we will elaborate on specific ideas and how you can help; in the meantime, we encourage you to join us on our Discord server where we are planning our fight (and maybe hosting some fun events and sharing memes under the name Transit Fans Ottawa): discord.gg/DxbgT6UNug (5/5)

09.07.2025 13:44 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Solidarity: Giving power back to front-line transit workers.

Incl.: bringing awareness to the mechanic shortage, supporting ATU 279 as they negotiate their next contract, and always running our ideas by real front-line workers so they can lend us their expertise. (4/5)

09.07.2025 13:43 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Sustainability: Operational changes to maintain a reliable network and support future growth.

Incl.: addressing the bus shortage by aquiring more used buses, bringing back express routes to supplement line 1, and reimplementing 5 minute headways on line 1 during off-peak. (3/5)

09.07.2025 13:43 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Consistency: Infrastructure projects to ensure transit is on-time, reliable, and offers a competitive alternative to driving.

Incl.: bus lanes on corridors such as Bank St, Carling Ave, and Montreal Rd, Baseline BRT, and transit priority signals throughout the city. (2/5)

09.07.2025 13:43 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Consistency, Sustainability, Solidarity.

These are the guiding principles that we plan to use to make public transportation in Ottawa reliable and create a strong foundation upon which a long-term, sustainable network can be built.

Let's take a closer look... (1/5)

09.07.2025 13:43 — 👍 9    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

BTO is fighting for a transit system that is useful and reliable by focusing on smaller scale projects and changes to internal operations. We support bus lanes on corridors such as Bank St and Carling Ave, and we are working on solving the bus shortage.

Want to know more? Have ideas? Contact us!

08.07.2025 21:10 — 👍 22    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 2