OC Transpo receives poor scores for bus reliability, frequency and travel time

OC Transpo posted video of an LRT vehicle arriving at the Trim Station along the Confederation Line for the first time. (OC Transpo/X)

OC Transpo is receiving a bumpy ride from passengers about bus service across the City of Ottawa, particularly reliability, frequency and the travel time.

The results of the OC Transpo customer satisfaction survey were presented to the Transit Committee on Monday, outlining the responses from approximately 2,000 customers in April and May 2024.

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Staff say while OC Transpo saw improved results in 2024 compared to 2023, there were low levels of satisfaction with several parts of bus and rail service.

The customer satisfaction survey shows customers gave bus service an average score of 3.11 out of 5 in 2024, up from 2.75 out of 5 in 2023. Customers gave OC Transpo’s rail service an average score of 3.29 out of 5, compared to 2.91 in 2023.

Councillors were told that there were increased ratings from customers in all areas for bus and rail service, “with several areas still needing improvements.”

For OC Transpo bus service, the lowest levels of satisfaction were with alternative routes information, reliability, frequency and journey time for bus trips. The highest levels of satisfaction involved staff appearance, “entering and leaving the bus,” environmental performance and staff helpfulness. Security and ride comfort also scored above the bus satisfaction level of 3.11 out of 5.

Staff say OC Transpo’s New Ways to Bus being implemented at the end of April will address the route network, travel time, reliability and bus frequency.

When it comes to the O-Train, the lowest levels of satisfaction were “alternatives information,” resolving problems and station comfort. OC Transpo received the highest scores for train accessibility, paying a fare, convenient hours, convenient frequency and “way finding.”

Staff say the most important aspects of OC Transpo’s rail service to customers were service availability (hours, frequency, network), reliability and security.

The areas of focus for OC Transpo to improve rail service is the interchange between Lines 1, 2 and 4, providing alternative information and real-time information and the convenience of the network.