STO and OC Transpo Routes

[dev161]

135 will have some trips using DD !! 

[GTAmissions1]

1 minute ago, dev161 said:

135 will have some trips using DD !! 

Interesting. Are they for the school trippers or the peak period trips?

Never expect a local route getting double deckers. Unless they are short and need to fill the trip with whatever is close by. 

[Enviro_1203]

2 hours ago, GTAmissions1 said:

Interesting. Are they for the school trippers or the peak period trips?

Never expect a local route getting double deckers. Unless they are short and need to fill the trip with whatever is close by. 

 

2 hours ago, dev161 said:

135 will have some trips using DD !! 

They are return trips to PDO after finishing the 235 at Lakeridge or other trips nearby. Max 4 trips to PDO in PM peak hours.

Also, the 20A is renumbered 33, 20B is renumbered 233

[Oc4526]

Just found out the 58 (Sto) has 2 trips at lunch time out of Tunney's Past. (12:05 & 12:35)

[chimo]

On 2016-10-13 at 10:41 AM, CyrusKafaiWu said:

Ooo, I can smell the new schedule/sign money being burned away. The people asking every bus at rush hour, uh does the 252,2xx go to eagleson park and ride? The OC bus drivers giving out brochures for two weeks!

 

 

The amount we are spending on this has to be minuscule and will give us an easier system to use.

I started working in Ottawa in 2006 and the one thing I could not figure out was which one were express fares and which ones weren't. Knowing which routes went through centretown didn't help me much. Of course someone told me to look at the colour of the route on the flag. Still didn't make sense that the 40 was regular fare and the 20 wasn't.

Now we will have routes by frequency, geographical sector which provides better information than the mish mash that we have now. It had to be done as many routes won't survive the transition to the LRT might as well start now with the elimination of the express fare.

 

[dev161]

On October 23, 2016 at 11:25 AM, chimo said:

The amount we are spending on this has to be minuscule and will give us an easier system to use.

I started working in Ottawa in 2006 and the one thing I could not figure out was which one were express fares and which ones weren't. Knowing which routes went through centretown didn't help me much. Of course someone told me to look at the colour of the route on the flag. Still didn't make sense that the 40 was regular fare and the 20 wasn't.

Now we will have routes by frequency, geographical sector which provides better information than the mish mash that we have now. It had to be done as many routes won't survive the transition to the LRT might as well start now with the elimination of the express fare.

 

based on looking at a map of the city , I figured out Anything outside the GreenBelt was an express route , anything inside was a peak period route

[chimo]

16 hours ago, dev161 said:

based on looking at a map of the city , I figured out Anything outside the GreenBelt was an express route , anything inside was a peak period route

Never seen the green belt clearly marked on online maps. Then again when I started googling quickly find out that express were for the old suburbs before the merger. Within the city it's regular fare. 

Which incidentally we are going to with the new fare card in January. 

The new numbering system will give me more info whenever am outside my usual area. 

[MCIBUS]

You hasve to remember back i the 1970's when the express  service was intrioduce OC was run by the region and not Ottawa?There where Neapen,Gloucester,Orleans & Kanata

[tomsbuspage]

On 2016-10-26 at 9:22 PM, dev161 said:

based on looking at a map of the city , I figured out Anything outside the GreenBelt was an express route , anything inside was a peak period route

17 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

You hasve to remember back i the 1970's when the express  service was intrioduce OC was run by the region and not Ottawa?There where Neapen,Gloucester,Orleans & Kanata

22 hours ago, chimo said:

Never seen the green belt clearly marked on online maps. Then again when I started googling quickly find out that express were for the old suburbs before the merger. Within the city it's regular fare. 

Which incidentally we are going to with the new fare card in January. 

The new numbering system will give me more info whenever am outside my usual area. 

Looking through my old maps, I agree that the express routes were originally used in Gloucester, Nepean, Kanata, Orleans and Barrhaven, although there was also express service to the Pinecrest area in Ottawa's west end into the early 1990s.  The shift to regular fare within the Greenbelt and express fare beyond seems to have begun in the late 1990s, with route 24 to Beacon Hill North switching from express to peak in 1999 and other routes either being extended beyond the Greenbelt or being cancelled outright.

 

[JCL]

On 10/11/2016 at 10:03 PM, OCtranspo10 said:

Route 19 St. Laurent - Rideau Centre via current 5 routing

Route 30. Loop(?) Jeanne D'arc, Brian Coburn, Trim, Valin. (Old 130/122)

63, 64, Tunney's Pasture - Richcraft (Old 93 split in 2)

224, assuming old 24

234, old 27

235, old 35

252 is a new route. Looks like, 416 to Hunt Club, Hunt Club, Old Richmond, to Hope Side, Fernbank Crossing/Cope Area, then Fernbank to Stittsville. (New route 167 area)

255, old 67

256, old 66

261, old 61

264, old 64

265, old 65

267, old 62

268, old 68

269, old 69

270, old 70

271, old 71

272, old 72

273, old 73

277, old 77

290, old 140. Thinking it will be going through downtown. 

293, old 40 BUT extended to Leitrim but not going through Findley Creek 

298, no  clue

 

Details now officially announced: http://www.octranspo.com/routes/new_winter_service_starting_dec._25

[MCIBUS]

Service changes Dec 25 Christmas Day!! Really? You would think they would picked another day? Why not after New Years?

[GTAmissions1]

2 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Service changes Dec 25 Christmas Day!! Really? You would think they would picked another day? Why not after New Years?

Service changes are always done on a Sunday before Christmas for the winter booking. In this case, the Sunday fell on Christmas. One week earlier would be December 18, 2016.

Last year was December 20, 2015 for the Winter service changes. Christmas was on a Friday in 2015. 

The reason why they don't delay until New Years is because the two weeks of holidays is a reduced service.

Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years Day is Sunday service.

Boxing Day, December 27 and January 3 are Saturday schedule. 

[chimo]

9 hours ago, GTAmissions1 said:

Service changes are always done on a Sunday before Christmas for the winter booking. In this case, the Sunday fell on Christmas. One week earlier would be December 18, 2016.

Last year was December 20, 2015 for the Winter service changes. Christmas was on a Friday in 2015. 

The reason why they don't delay until New Years is because the two weeks of holidays is a reduced service.

Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years Day is Sunday service.

Boxing Day, December 27 and January 3 are Saturday schedule. 

Which makes it the perfect time to mostly switch numbers around. Few routes are new or have changes. 

But a colleague did tell me why do this in winter when it's cold and not in April. I suppose if you are on one of the new routes he might have a point. But as it's mostly routes getting a new number it should go smoothly for the reasons you mention. 

I suppose some might be on vacation and have a surprise coming back after the holidays.

Few people I know are aware of this change and didn't pick up the pamphlets, if there are any issues it might more about that than doing it on Christmas.

 

[MCIBUS]

It may cost some but advertise on Radio & TV or better yet through social media as that's what to today's generation is into?

[Centralsmt]

1 hour ago, MCIBUS said:

It may cost some but advertise on Radio & TV or better yet through social media as that's what to today's generation is into?

OC are quite active on Twitter, but that's generally only used to advise of delays and cancellations to services. They have tweeted about the forthcoming changes however, and will no doubt continue to do so.

The Facebook page is rarely updated though.

OC's customer service however is very poor in general, something that has been reported on many times in the media, and also something they themselves admit.

[Guest]

I heard writing a memo about the new route changes to bus operators works.

Why?

- Simple as copy and pasting an page on the website, adding a few paragraphs.

- Operators want the best shifts for them, so they will take the time to investigate the Paddles, the new Route Changes and etc.

- And, let's be honest, other than us, a small population will type in http://octranspo.com in their address bar and read the route changes. If people know their route changed, they will ask all the buses if they stop at Eagleson Park and Ride at Albert/Metcalfe.

Other Suggestion: Signs of the changes like they already have for #OnTrack2018

[OCtranspo10]

12 hours ago, CyrusKafaiWu said:

I heard writing a memo about the new route changes to bus operators works.

 

Why?

- Simple as copy and pasting an page on the website, adding a few paragraphs.

- Operators want the best shifts for them, so they will take the time to investigate the Paddles, the new Route Changes and etc.

- And, let's be honest, other than us, a small population will type in http://octranspo.com in their address bar and read the route changes. If people know their route changed, they will ask all the buses if they stop at Eagleson Park and Ride at Albert/Metcalfe.

Other Suggestion: Signs of the changes like they already have for #OnTrack2018

 

To add to that, the NSAS is a good way of telling people of the changes.

[GTAmissions1]

On November 15, 2016 at 7:25 AM, chimo said:

Which makes it the perfect time to mostly switch numbers around. Few routes are new or have changes. 

But a colleague did tell me why do this in winter when it's cold and not in April. I suppose if you are on one of the new routes he might have a point. But as it's mostly routes getting a new number it should go smoothly for the reasons you mention. 

I suppose some might be on vacation and have a surprise coming back after the holidays.

Few people I know are aware of this change and didn't pick up the pamphlets, if there are any issues it might more about that than doing it on Christmas.

The reason why it is done in Winter (next month) is because since the route network is getting overhauled, they need time to ensure that if there are any issues/concerns with the new routes, they get addressed before trains start running. This is just the first stage with several more stages to come. 

23 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

It may cost some but advertise on Radio & TV or better yet through social media as that's what to today's generation is into?

They already sent this tweet regarding changes since there is a lot of sheer detailed involved. I think they are most likely going to display the board at affected Transitway Stations where people get a visual rather than just a bunch of text. They are still working on route maps. 

 

22 hours ago, Centralsmt said:

OC are quite active on Twitter, but that's generally only used to advise of delays and cancellations to services. They have tweeted about the forthcoming changes however, and will no doubt continue to do so.

The Facebook page is rarely updated though.

OC's customer service however is very poor in general, something that has been reported on many times in the media, and also something they themselves admit.

I find it very commonplace with social media, companies would rather be attracted to Twitter because of the real-time interaction. Facebook works depending on the field of the company, but it is not very common in transit. Along with a strategy on how it will be used. 

No doubt that people do complain about the poor customer service. Especially when some people are on hold for over 10 minutes, why waste the time waiting to connect the call. I always advise people to call in the morning (8 AM) when there is less call volume. I know I don't like waiting around especially when people send "feedback" on weekends too. Even with that, they are still stuck in the stone age of the 8 AM to 5:30 PM Monday to Friday hours. 

[Guest]

Quote

Becomes new Connexion Route 271

• Express premium no longer required
• No changes to the number of trips offered
• In the afternoon, no longer stops at Westboro, Dominion, Lincoln Fields, Queensway, Iris or Baseline Stations (connect at Fallowfield)

 

Ouch, Fallowfield is abit excessive, how about Baseline ?

- so it magically fits in with Phase 2, with little adjustments

[JCL]

1 hour ago, CyrusKafaiWu said:

Ouch, Fallowfield is abit excessive, how about Baseline ?

- so it magically fits in with Phase 2, with little adjustments

The reason why they are doing limited stops in the PM peak is to prevent people from taking the express buses (or what will soon be called "Connexion" routes) for only short distance rides, as a result of the elimination of express fares. 

[Waiting for 30 Minutes]

17 hours ago, CyrusKafaiWu said:

Ouch, Fallowfield is abit excessive, how about Baseline ?

- so it magically fits in with Phase 2, with little adjustments

 

15 hours ago, JCL said:

The reason why they are doing limited stops in the PM peak is to prevent people from taking the express buses (or what will soon be called "Connexion" routes) for only short distance rides, as a result of the elimination of express fares. 

Guess I'll have to make signs and announcements for my 271 next booking.

[JCL]

1 hour ago, Waiting for 30 Minutes said:

 

Guess I'll have to make signs and announcements for my 271 next booking.

I don't know whether or not OC will do those PSA announcements on NSAS on the affected stops, similar to the #ontrack2018, advising passengers that their bus route would not service those affected stations in the PM Peak. But I hope they do. 

[JCL]

Users of Route 128 are planning to file a petition to the upcoming December 5th Transit Commission meeting regarding Route 128: http://ottawastart.com/blackburn-hamlet-resident-says-commuters-ditching-the-bus-after-degradation-of-service/

[GTAmissions1]

5 hours ago, JCL said:

Users of Route 128 are planning to file a petition to the upcoming December 5th Transit Commission meeting regarding Route 128: http://ottawastart.com/blackburn-hamlet-resident-says-commuters-ditching-the-bus-after-degradation-of-service/

Just read the article and I will admit that it is a difficult geographical area to service. Especially when Route 128 runs in a very difficult configuration. 

Route 91, 94 and 95 (workhorse routes) are picking up the demand as intended. Though, always difficult when further down the line and the main terminus being several kilometres away. Place D'Orleans/Trim (91 and 95) being a few stations away. I know, I always see the experience when buses are too full that several have to go by before passengers are accommodated. 

In the end, their main focus is the transition onto the new route network and maintaining current service levels until the changeover. Right now, it is more of hold on until 2018 when the light rail transit line opens. 

[HB_1024]

Surprised that more haven't complained in a similar vein about routes 161 and 168 in the west end, both of which are useless routes for different reasons (161 almost never runs, being a weekday only bus at a very low frequency. 168 is never anywhere close to following the schedule; it's like route 94 on a smaller scale, way too long servicing far too many areas, which only became a problem after it absorbed the old route 164 service).

On Monday night, I saw three Terry Fox bound 168 buses within 10-15 minutes along Eagleson, two of which were piggy-backing each other. I get that there was a fair amount of snow (and it wasn't plowed very nicely), but I don't even know how that happened as that bus is only supposed to run every 30 minutes!