Old bus enthusiast

When I lived in Ottawa in 1999, there was a limited amount of accessible bus service available. At that time, accessible bus service on routes 151 (now 81) and 174 (later 284, now cancelled) was available only for all trips on Sunday since 1998. If I am correct, it was also since 1998 when some accessible bus service was available on routes 5 and 18.

With most, if not all Connexion routes possibly being phased out as the O-Train system expands, it may time time to redo the bus route numbering pattern as follows: 5-99 for those serving Ottawa and Nepean. 100-149 for those serving Gloucester. 150-199 for those serving Orleans, Cumberland and Navan. 200-249 for those serving Kanata. 250-299 for those serving Stittsville. N39 and N75 combined as route 805. N57 and N97 combined as route 807. N45 renumbered 815. N61 renumbered 801.

Some notes on bus retirements: 400-420 (GMC TDH-4512, 1955) were all retired in 1975. 7132 (GMC T6H-5305, 1971); 8801-8806 (Orion I, 1978); 8807-8824 (Orion I, 1979) and 8825-8832 (Orion I, 1980) were retired in 1990.

8801-8806 (1978); 8807-8824 (1979) and 8825-8832 (1980) were shown as part of the fleet in a January 1990 copy of the Ottawa Citizen. For the first time, buses 7409 and 7414 were listed as retired in the 1998 copy of the Street Side Guide. The buses from 1974 and 1975 were those I remembered last seeing in 1999. Those from 1978 and 1979 were listed as retired in a copy of the Street Side Guide from 2000.

On the CPTDB Wiki OC Transpo page, the information on when any high-floor buses were retired is still far from complete. With that being said, I will give further information I was able to gather for when some were retired. 1989 7128 (GMC TDH-5305, built in 1971). 1990 7132 (GMC TDH-5305, built in 1971); 8801-8806 (Orion I, built in 1978); 8807-8824 (Orion I, built in 1979); 8825-8832 (Orion I, built in 1980). 1993 7284 (GMC-5307N, built in 1972); 7344, 7350 and 7357 (GMC-5307N, built in 1973); 8709 and 8717 (Flyer D800B, built in 1978); 8242-8243, 8245, 8247-8251, 8253, 8258-8259, 8261 and 8264-8266 (Orion I, built in 1982); 8373, 8375 and 8384 (Orion I, built in 1983); 8745-8746 (Orion-Ikarus III, built in 1987). 1998 7409 and 7414 (GMC-5307N, built in 1974). 1999 7455 and 7459 (GMC-5307N, built in 1974); 5705-5708, 5716 and 5754 (GMC-5307N, built in 1975); 7802 and 7831 (GMC-5307N, built in 1978); 7904, 7913-7914 and 7924 (GMC-5307N, built in 1979).