A community organization called Free Transit Ottawa is looking for a few volunteers to help make their vision of transit in the capital a reality, which includes free transit during off-peak hours and on weekends and buying more buses. The group held a launch party at Irene’s Pub in the Glebe on Monday night; it was an opportunity to connect and spread the word. One of the organizers, Donald Swartz, was excited by the turnout, and he is hoping at least a few of those attending will step up to help them realize their vision. “The top demand is to make buses free in off-peak hours and the second is to buy more buses,” Swartz said. “Those that are on the buses say it’s too expensive, it’s too unreliable. I think as we get the word out, we will have more and more support.” They say they have consulted widely, have developed a costed plan and a proposal to pay for the changes for the city and residents to consider. Their vision includes: The group says the annual cost of free transit in off-peak hours and boosting service would be $125 million, with $50 million to cover free transit and $52.5 million to buy 150 electric buses. The group says the election of four citizen transit commissioners could cost $250,000. Free Transit Ottawa has proposed various ways to finance the changes, without an increase in property taxes, saying their approach centres on ‘progressive’ measures that also discourage the use of private cars. Their plan includes: Several city councillors attended the launch, including transit committee member Jeff Leiper. He thought parts of the plan are worth pursuing, as the city is expected to grow by 400,000 residents in the next couple of decades. “The future of this city has to be a public transit future. We cannot accommodate the hundreds of thousands of cars that are going to be on our roads if we don’t have a functioning transit system,” Leiper said. “There are a lot of things that we can do without necessarily going down the path of free transit in the immediate new term to make public transit a first instead of a last choice for residents.”
