OC Transpo reports spike in bus cancellations at end of January

New data shows there was a spike in bus cancellations at the end of January in Ottawa. CTV’s Stefan Keyes reports.

OC Transpo says the number of bus trips that were not delivered in the last week of January came close to the figures reported in the first week of the month, something that prompted a mea culpa from transit officials.

In its latest weekly update, OC Transpo reported that 2,636 bus trips were not delivered the week of Jan. 25 to 31, representing six per cent of the 44,342 trips scheduled. This figure does not include trips that were removed from the schedule as of Jan. 12 to reduce the number of daily buses required on the roads.

The figure includes more than 700 cancellations reported on Jan. 26 alone.

The week of Jan. 4 to 10 saw 2,768 trip cancellations, prompting a memo from interim general manager of Transit Services Troy Charter, who said service was not meeting OC Transpo’s standards.

The reasons for trip cancellations in the final week of January differ from the first week, however. During the week of Jan. 4, nearly half of all trip cancellations were due to a lack of available buses, but that reason accounted for 22 per cent of trip cancellations during the week of Jan. 25.

A lack of available drivers accounted for 34 per cent of cancellations in the final week of January, mechanical breakdowns represented 13 per cent of cancelled trips, and on-street adjustments — things like collisions or customer incidents — represented 31 per cent of cancellations.

Over the course of the month, OC Transpo reported more than 9,200 trip cancellations, accounting for about five per cent of total planned trips, not counting the ones temporarily removed from the schedule for bus availability purposes.

Charter told reporters Friday that the weather played a role in trip cancellations.

“It’s important to note that last week, we saw very low temperatures and snowfall, which put a further strain on our bus fleet, and it impacted our progress,” he said. “On the positive side of things, though, our enhanced maintenance practices allowed for faster stabilization of the fleet following these weather events. We’re seeing a positive trend this week with more buses available for service and fewer undelivered trips.”

He said improved weather in the spring will help in stabilizing bus service, but he also said by next winter, the goal is to have a stronger, younger, and more efficient bus fleet.

“It’s really about that focus on renewing our fleet. We’d like to hire 20 more mechanics this year… with more mechanics to work on the vehicles, with newer vehicles, we’ll be in a much better state for next winter, but with that said, there’s always challenges in the winter months, but I do not want to leave anyone with the impression that all our hopes and efforts to improve things are based on weather."

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Charter added that seven new electric buses have completed inspections and are now available for service, bringing the total number of electric buses in the fleet to 48. OC Transpo anticipates having 110 electric buses delivered by the end of March and nearly 240 by the end of 2026.

The delivery of electric buses has been delayed by supply issues. OC Transpo initially anticipated having 106 electric buses available by the end of January 2026.

He added that he wants to see bus availability increase before returning temporarily cancelled trips to the weekly schedule.

“For this week, we’re seeing our bus average availability is a little over 500. I want to maintain and be able to sustain a minimum of 510 buses before we start reinstating some service,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is reinstate service, advertise it to our customers, and then not be able to deliver it and pull it back.”

OC Transpo says it typically requires an average of 520 buses available for service each weekday, but that was temporarily reduced to 500 starting Jan. 12, when 255 weekday trips were removed from the schedule.

OC Transpo says there was an average of 492 buses available the week of Jan. 25, down from 494 the week of Jan. 18, and 498 the week of Jan. 11, but up from 467 the week of Jan. 4.

Charter said additional details would be shared at the Transit Committee meeting on Feb. 12.

Two more Line 1 trains available

Since the spalling issue was identified on O-Train Line 1 trains, OC Transpo says two more vehicles have been made available.

Thirty-nine vehicles remain stopped for inspections and maintenance as of Friday, with 20 vehicles now available for service on Line 1.

The line has been running at reduced capacity but increased frequency using single-car trains since the issue was identified on Jan. 21. Spalling is caused when flakes break off the metal surface inside the axle bearing, creating pits that grow over time. If not treated, it could lead to cracks and bearing failure.

“We recognize that current service on Line 1 is not meeting our standards, or the expectations of transit customers. Work is underway to safely restore capacity, while holding our maintainer accountable,” Charter said in an update on Friday.

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“OC Transpo continues to make progress on the action plan to restore Line 1 capacity for customers. Technical meetings are ongoing with RTG and Alstom’s external experts. RTG continues to work through their cartridge bearing assembly (CBA) replacement strategy which balances fleet availability, ongoing maintenance and inspection requirements.”

Typical peak service requires 26 vehicles, running as double-car trains every five minutes. Instead, OC Transpo has been running 15 single-car trains every three to four minutes during peak periods.

Charter anticipates having 20 vehicles available for service next week, but warned that fleet availability is expected to keep fluctuating because of required maintenance.

The root cause of the spalling issue remains under investigation, Charter said. He did not know how many of the 39 vehicles that remain out of service are affected by the spalling issue.

Charter again repeated that it is too soon to say whether the Stage 2 east expansion will be delayed by the spalling issue. Trial running has not yet begun.

He also said there is no timeline for a return to regular Line 1 service.

OC Transpo planning for return-to-office

The federal government announced on Thursday that it intends to bring executives in the core public administration back to the office five days per week starting in May and all other employees back at least four days per week starting in July.

Charter told reporters that OC Transpo has regular conversations about the federal government with regard to its service delivery plans.

“Representatives from the City and OC Transpo continue our dialog with the federal government on a number of fronts and return-to-office mandates as well as other aspects are discussed. We knew that something was in the works with regard to the federal government and we’ve assured them that our plans that we’re working towards can support that return-to-office mandate that they have,” he said.

Acting Director of Transit Service Delivery and Rail Operations Joel Lemieux said in French that customer patterns show higher ridership on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and that capacity on Mondays and Fridays would be able to meet demand once public servants start travelling more frequently on those days as well, particularly by the summer.