OC Transpo
The Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, doing business as OC Transpo, is the primary public transport agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operating bus rapid transit, light rail, conventional bus routes, and door-to-door paratransit in the nation's capital region.
OC Transpo was established in 1948 as the Ottawa Transportation Commission, and currently operates three urban rail lines, 11 bus rapid transit lines, and 170 regular bus routes. OC Transpo serves 25 light rail stations, and 43 BRT stations. OC Transpo achieved a total ridership of 68 million in 2024.
Ottawa was notable for its Transitway system, a network of grade separated busways linking outer suburbs to the downtown core which originally opened with five stations in 1983, and continued substantial expansion into the late 2000s. Much of the Transitway infrastructure has been, and is currently being, converted to light rail since the opening of the Confederation Line in 2019.
Some OC Transpo routes also serve Gatineau in Quebec during peak periods. In addition, many Société de transport de l'Outaouais routes serving Gatineau also operate into downtown Ottawa.
System overview
Ottawa's transportation system is built around the rapid transit spines of the O-Train and Transitway networks. This rapid transit system is fed, and augmented by, frequent, express, and local bus routes.The rapid transit network is primarily oriented around downtown and the nearby government offices therein, whereas the non-rapid network of frequent routes provide orbital coverage in the suburbs. The majority of Ottawa's busiest routes are orbital routes, including frequent routes 88, 6, and 7, despite not being rapid transit. Express routes parallel rapid corridors with limited stops during peak periods, while local routes are comparatively infrequent with closely spaced stops. Six rapid bus routes have 24 hour service.
O-Train Line 1 forms the core of the network, accounting for a quarter of all transit trips in the city in 2023. It has three major Transitway interchanges, one O-Train Line 2 interchange, and one intercity Via rail station across its length. It is a 100% low floor, electric light rail line, and it is notable for being fully grade separated its entire length, which is uncommon for light rail services. The ongoing Stage 2 O-Train expansion will replace portions of the existing Transitway bus rapid transit network with extensions of the Line 1 and a new Line 3, which will interline Line 1 and add additional service to the west end of Ottawa.
O-Train Line 2 is one of the three primary north–south rapid transit corridors in the city, and duplicates the southeastern Transitway for part of its length. The primary trip generator on the line is Carleton University, and the line interchanges with Line 1 at Bayview, O-Train Line 4 at South Keys, and the southwestern Transitway rapid route 74 at Limebank station. Line 2 was closed for Stage 2 expansion on 3 May 2020, re-opening alongside the Line 4 on 6 January 2025. It was originally constructed as a low cost rail pilot project, using a disused mainline freight line. It operates diesel trains on single and double track at a frequency of every 12 minutes.
The Transitway fans out from the city centre in four directions: east, southeast, southwest, and west, extending past the greenbelt and entering the outer ring suburbs of Kanata, Barrhaven, and Orléans. Many of the rapid bus routes that operate on the Transitway share the same route in the inner city, and then branch out in the suburbs to provide coverage. In addition to the BRT lines, the Transitway is also partly used by other, non-rapid transit routes, as well as emergency vehicles. The Transitway is mostly grade separated.
History
Early history
Ottawa's first public transportation system began in 1886 with the operation of a horsecar system. The horse-drawn streetcars travelled back and forth from New Edinburgh to the Chaudière Bridge. The horsecar would remain a staple means of public transportation until 1891 after Thomas Ahearn founded the Ottawa Electric Railway Company. This private enterprise eventually provided heated streetcar service covering the downtown core. Electricity had been employed in a few places in Ottawa since the first demonstration of the incandescent bulb in 1883; the earliest were Parliament Hill and LeBreton Flats. In May 1885, electric lighting commenced in the city. In 1885 council contracted Ottawa Electric Light Company to install arc lamps on the city's streets.1970s: Formation, early Transitway and first strike
Transit in Ottawa was provided by the Ottawa Transportation Commission until 1973 when transit service in the city and its suburbs was transferred under the auspices of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. Its formal name was the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, but the service was promoted in both English and French under the OC Transpo name, whose OC initials are derived from Ottawa-Carleton. This renaming to OC Transpo was a break from the practice of simply retaining the central cities' transit system's name following regionalization as was the case for Toronto's Toronto Transit Commission and Hamilton's Hamilton Street Railway.The 20-day 1979 strike was fought over a wage difference of a nickel and became known as "the five-cent bus strike". A pay increase of 16.5% was rejected by the union.
1980s: Transitway
In the early 1980s, OC Transpo began planning for a bus rapid transit system, the Transitway. Construction of its various stations and segments followed over many years. The first segments were from Baseline to Lincoln Fields in the west end and from Lees to Hurdman in the east end.1990s: Second strike and shooting
The second strike for OC Transpo ran from 25 November to 16 December 1996. The strike ended under arbitration.On Tuesday, 6 April 1999, former OC Transpo employee Pierre Lebrun, armed with a Remington Model 760 pump-action rifle, shot six people, killing four, in a shooting spree at OC Transpo's St. Laurent Boulevard garage, before killing himself. Lebrun was fired in August 1997 but later reinstated, and quit in 1998.
An inquest into the shooting revealed Lebrun was the subject of teasing for his speech impediment, and that his complaints to management were not investigated. The inquest revealed an "atmosphere of bullying", described as a "poisoned" environment by an employment equity manager. In response, OC Transpo instigated zero-tolerance policies regarding workplace harassment, a new employee-management communications program, and increased training on workplace respect. However, studies in 2003 and 2004 found there to be lingering elements of a negative work environment, and employee-management communication was reported to be strained following the 1996 strike.
2000s: Trillium Line, expansions and third strike
OC Transpo launched the O-Train diesel light rail transit service on 15 October 2001, as a pilot project. The service consists of one north–south line, with major points of interest including Carleton University and the South Keys Shopping Centre. In late 2014, this line became known as the Trillium Line, or O-Train Line 2, to allow for expansion of the O-Train brand.The province of Ontario ordered the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and its component municipalities into a single City of Ottawa municipality. When the new local governance took effect in 2001, OC Transpo became a department of the new city.
Following amalgamation, a bilingual replacement backronym for "OC" was sought, but no suitable candidates have been found. The anachronistic acronym has been kept, instead of the costly task of replacing the decals on all buses, bus stops, bus stations, and promotional material. Thus, "OC" is an orphan initialism.
A new section of the southwest Transitway opened on 12 December 2005, between the Nepean Sportsplex and Fallowfield Station. The new section runs parallel to Woodroffe Avenue and was built at a cost of $10 million. The new section has no stations and has replaced service along Woodroffe Avenue between the Nepean Sportsplex and Fallowfield. The Transitway was further expanded south into Barrhaven with Strandherd opened on 2 January 2007. There are also long range plans for other extensions in the Orleans and Kanata areas to keep up with more growing communities.
Following the 2006 municipal election campaign, Larry O'Brien was elected as mayor and cancelled the light rail expansion project, per a campaign promise. City Council decided to annul the project by a margin of 13–11 on 14 December 2006. The proposed northbound expansions from Bayview onward were later revived with the Confederation Line project, contracted in December 2012.
OC Transpo drivers, dispatchers, and maintenance workers under Amalgamated Transit Union local 279 went on strike 10 December 2008, at 12:01am. The main causes of the strike were disagreements between the City of Ottawa and the union regarding scheduling, payroll and seniority. Rona Ambrose, the Federal Minister of Labour ordered a union membership vote on 8 January 2009, on the city's contract proposal in response to a request from mayor Larry O'Brien. Both the city and the union published their positions on respective websites. Vote results released on 9 January 2009, revealed that of those eligible to vote, 64% rejected the offer.
Meetings were held with a mediator throughout the month, but talks were repeatedly broken off. The ATU had requested to send all issues not related to scheduling to arbitration, which the city refused as it requested all issues to be sent to an arbitrator. As the strike entered the 50th day, Ambrose, who had initially refused to table back-to-work legislation, announced that such legislation would be introduced. However, on 29 January, the city and the ATU reached a deal that sent every issue to binding arbitration, thus ending the 51-day-long strike. On 2 February 2009, the O-Train Trillium Line started service after being out of service due to the strike. Buses followed the following Monday, 9 February 2009. Not all buses returned at once and OC Transpo said that all buses and routes were due to return by 6 April 2009. OC Transpo offered free transit for a week. December pass holders could either use their December passes until March or could get a refund. December pass holders were also subject to a 60% discount on March passes in order to win back transit users.