OC Transpo to host free transit weekend, but no date announced yet

An OC Transpo light rail train is seen heading towards downtown Ottawa on January 21, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

OC Transpo will provide a free weekend of transit to allow residents to explore the O-Train and buses, but no date for the no charge weekend has been announced.

Transit Services general manager Renee Amilcar told the Transit Committee that the transit service will host a “customer appreciation weekend.”

“As a thank you to our customers and residents for their support, there will be a free fare weekend coming soon,” Amilcar said. “The free weekend of transit is being held to celebrate the successful opening of O-Train Lines 2 and 4, the New Ways to Bus Network and to encourage residents and visitors to come out and try transit.”

OC Transpo is launching the New Ways to Bus Network on April 27, changing bus routes for many riders.

“With the new lines and bus service, this weekend will give everyone a great opportunity to explore our transit network and our city,” Amilcar said. “All service on OC Transpo, including buses, trains and Para Transpo will be free of charge.”

• Major changes to OC Transpo bus routes coming April 27

A date for the free weekend of transit will be announced “pretty soon,” according to Amilcar.

There was no word on how much a free transit weekend will cost.

Coun. Shawn Menard applauded the idea of a free transit weekend.

“After all the city has been through, some have been hesitant to try transit in Ottawa,” Menard said on X. “I’ve been encouraging incentives. OC Transpo has responded and will offer a free weekend in the near future to encourage people to try the new Line 2 and Line 4, Line 1 and buses.”

Transit ridership bump

OC Transpo saw a bump in ridership through the first two months of 2025.

In a presentation to the Transit Committee Thursday morning, staff said there were 6.5 million trips on OC Transpo in January and 5.9 million trips in February.

Ridership was up in January from just under 6 million trips in January 2024. Staff said ridership was down 2 per cent in February 2025 compared to last year.

Bus reliability

OC Transpo continues to miss its targets for bus service delivery and on-time performance.

Staff say OC Transpo’s average service delivery was 96.9 per cent in March, below the target of 99.5 per cent.

“For the bus side, when we deliver a 96, 97, even 98 per cent of the service, is bad,” Amilcar told councillors.

“It’s very bad. That’s why when we compare with best transit around the world, we need to deliver what we planned 99.5 per cent.”

Of the 3.1 per cent of trips not provided in March, one per cent of trips were cancelled due to a lack of available vehicles, while 0.9 per cent of cancellations were due to on-street adjustments for construction and detours and 0.7 per cent of trips were cancelled because of a lack of drivers.

The routes with the largest number of cancelled trips were Route 11 (501 trips cancelled in March), Route 6 with (480 trips cancelled), and Route 8 (413 trips cancelled).

“Those routes are routes that run on the streets have some of the most auto traffic congestion across the city,” staff said.

For on-time performance, regular frequent bus routes were on time 82 per cent of the time, three per cent lower than the target. The less frequent bus routes were on time 75 per cent of the time.

Staff say 16 per cent of trips arrived more than five minutes late on less-frequent routes.

In March, OC Transpo and Rideau Transit Maintenance provided 99.5 per cent of planned trips on O-Train Line 1. Service delivery was 97.9 per cent on Lines 2 and 4, 1.6 per cent lower than the target.

“Month after month shows we’re not meeting targets that OC Transpo has set out. Eighty-five per cent is a target for all busses to achieve. On-time performance, and we are grossly behind that,” said River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington.

“Gridlock on our streets, weather issues, construction, that is a part of the ingredients that go into this. But I also think there are some unrealistic just bus schedules.”

The Transit Committee directed OC Transpo to present a plan by October that will have buses on time 85 per cent of the time.

Bus fleet availability

OC Transpo is hoping it will have enough buses to meet service demands in September under the New Ways to Bus schedule, as it continues to deal with a shortage of buses.

There has been a delay with the arrival of new electric buses and the aging fleet requires more maintenance, increasing pressure on the fleet every day.

The Transit Committee was told that while there are 735 buses in the active fleet, 39 buses require 30-plus days of work, 24 buses are in inspections and 120 buses a day require work for daily defects.

While the April service requirement is 540 buses a day, OC Transpo has 521 buses available.

• OC Transpo focusing on ‘quick wins’ maintenance to keep buses on the road through the winter

An average of 150 defects per day were reported through the winter, requiring buses to be pulled out of service. Councillors were told maintenance staff focused on quick turnaround jobs through the winter to get buses on the road, causing the backlog of major work to grow.

Staff say the aging bus fleet is putting pressure on younger buses, with an additional 18,550 km per year for younger buses and a 20 per cent increase in maintenance costs.

“If everything is okay, we will continue to maintain the aging fleet and fingers crossed that we will not need to retire some of them prior to receiving the E-buses,” Amilcar said.

Every articulated bus in the OC Transpo fleet will be passed its lifespan by next year. Eighteen buses were retired over the winter due to structural damage.

OC Transpo expects 30 new E-Buses to arrive in the spring, with another 31 buses expected to arrive over the summer to boost the fleet.

Coun. Jeff Leiper suggested it was “razor-thin” to believe OC Transpo buses will have enough buses for September.

To ensure there are buses available for commuters, OC Transpo is shifting operational focus to address major work and address the maintenance backlog and maximizing available resources, including external vendors.

The Transit Service continues to explore international markets to buy used diesel buses.

“We’re still trying to find old buses and to see if we can bring those buses. Hopefully, they’ll be more reliable than our old buses,” Amilcar said.

The long-term strategy to address the maintenance issues includes buying 50 new diesel buses at the end of 2026 and start of 2027 and new electric buses.

OC Transpo is short 50 mechanics.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Dylan Dyson