We recently joined other members of the public and advocacy groups like Horizon Ottawa, Ottawa Transit Riders, and ACORN Ottawa to speak against proposed cuts to transit service. OC Transpo’s draft plan addresses lower pandemic ridership by suspending, shortening, and reducing frequency on many routes linking suburbs to downtown, to begin in June.

It’s bad enough they want to reduce service right as many vaccinated people will begin to take the bus again, but it’s yet another a failure to recognize 1) that transit is a public service and should be available regardless of demand, and 2) that we have plenty of money for things like road budgets but act broke when it comes to making the buses run. The reality of cuts is never as clean and efficient as management makes it sound, and leads to people moving away from transit long term. It is neither practical nor safe to have an infrequent or unreliable bus route.

These “service adjustments” therefore take us in the wrong direction. The city needs a plan to fix transit and bring back riders, not cuts and “concerns” about cost savings.

You can see what two of our members had to say about it: Kirstin Pulles and Nick Grover

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