Cost-saving LRT service cut coming in March as ridership remains low

Low transit use means service cuts are coming LRT problems are largely solved, but no one's riding. CTV's Leah Larocque tells us what the City might do next.

OTTAWA — There will be fewer trains running on Ottawa’s light rail transit system starting next month as ridership remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

The city’s transit commission heard Wednesday that ridership across OC Transpo was at 18 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in January and rose to 21 per cent in the first half of February as students returned to school.

With ridership remaining well below normal, OC Transpo continues to face serious budgetary pressures.

One source of savings is coming by way of service cuts on the Confederation Line. Peak service will drop from 15 trains to 11 trains starting the first week of March. This reduced service will last for two months.

OC Transpo says this will enable the city to save $100,000 in monthly service payments to the Rideau Transit Group (RTG) and also save between $50,000 and $60,000 on electricity costs.

Staff assure riders that trains will still come every five minutes and there will still be space for physical distancing.

Speaking to the commission, Transportation Services General Manager John Manconi said he pushed to find savings.

"Technically speaking, RTG doesn't have to give us a dime," he said. "I squeezed that out of them. The best I could get was a hundred thousand dollars. There was no way I was going to reduce the service and not get some savings."

The reduced service will also give RTG the ability to speed up any other improvements the system still needs. Commission heard that work on five of the seven vehicle reliability issues highlighted by the city is complete. Work on the vehicle brakes and the auxiliary power system is ongoing.

Officials also said the service has been 98 per cent reliable in the last five months, with average wait times of two to three minutes when delays happen.

The transit commission also heard that a report would be presented in March or April outlining options for finding additional savings, which includes the possibility of route cuts, though Manconi has previously said that cuts are a last resort.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Manconi said the final decision on whether to cut routes is up to city council.

"Our position continues to be to not cut routes. We're taking the long view on this because there are still people who depend on the service," he said. "We're going to bring a report on—if we do have to go down the path of route cuts—what the criteria and the principles are."

The report is expected to outline three plans: one involving additional support from the federal and/or provincial government, one involving delaying infrastructure plans and upgrades, and one involving cuts to service.

Transit commission chair Coun. Allan Hubley said his goal is to avoid cutting routes.

"We're going to look at all options because the direction we had from council was to make sure that we're there for the people that need us when they need us most," he said.

Last week, the federal government announced $14.9-billion in funding for public transit across the country, though much of the money is not expected until years from now and it is meant for infrastructure projects and not operations.

Manconi said staff are working on securing funding from other levels of government to cover the costs of operating the transit system despite low ridership.

"We're pressing hard to see if we have any commitments at any level of government. So far, we haven't heard anything yet," he said.