There are plenty of parking spaces available at OC Transpo park and ride lots this fall if commuters want to avoid sitting in traffic for the trip to work and school. The City of Ottawa and OC Transpo were expecting an additional 65,000 trips a day into the downtown core this fall, as public servants spend a minimum of four days a week in the office and post-secondary students return to class for the fall semester. According to data on the City of Ottawa’s mobility dashboard, the average weekday usage is under 50 per cent at seven park and ride lots, with usage under 20 per cent at five of the lots. The lowest weekday usage is at the Nepean Woods park and ride lot, with an average usage of three per cent last week. There was six per cent usage at the Terry Fox park and ride lot last week. There are 538 parking spaces available at Terry Fox, according to the city. The park and ride lot at Place d’Orléans had the highest weekday usage, with 73 per cent of spots taken last week. The average weekday usage was 65 per cent at the Leitrim park and ride lot and the Fallowfield lot. Here is a look at the average usage at park and ride sits across Ottawa for the period of Oct. 23 to Nov. 5 New Express routes were launched this fall between Innovation and Tunney’s Pasture and Innovation and the Department of National Defence campus on Carling Avenue to give commuters a new option to get to work and avoid looking for parking spots. The transit service also launched new express routes between Terry Fox and Eagleson Stations to Tunney’s Pasture and Millennium to Blair Station for commuters. OC Transpo provides park and ride lots at 18 locations across Ottawa, including free parking at 15 of the lots. A permit, costing $31 a month, is required at Baseline, Jeanne d’Arc and Ray Friel.
