GOA transit news, info etc

[Oc4526]

Bus Food Ban Eyed

Also they say 30 more Hybrids are due to be on the rd this fall (waiting for an official word from better sources)

[Cogeno]

I honestly don't think it'll do a damn thing if it goes through.

This is just going to be another thing that won't be enforced by drivers. And common sense tells me that if people keep leaving their crap everywhere, then why follow a food/drink ban?

[Centralsmt]

I honestly don't think it'll do a damn thing if it goes through.

This is just going to be another thing that won't be enforced by drivers. And common sense tells me that if people keep leaving their crap everywhere, then why follow a food/drink ban?

How do you know it wont be enforced by drivers?

maybe they would prefer to work in a cleaner enviroment.

When I lived in washington DC there was a food and drink ban on public transport and it was strictly enforced by employees, and yes people were convicted for breaking the ban.

[Cogeno]

I'm just thinking of all the rules that go unenforced on this side of the river.

While there are some exceptions, they are far and few between.

Ex. STO, it's against by-laws to talk loudly on your cell phone, to play your music loudly, to not fold your stroller, etc. Apparently, this now results in a $300 fine.

But, most of the time, you can have some woman (in my experience, it's usually women) screaming on her phone, telling whoever is on the other end to go f*ck him/herself, etc, or you can have gangsta rap being blared from the other side of the bus, and the driver does nothing about it. That's why I see this as something that will go unenforced.

[stm_5307N]

8401 has officially been retired as of a result of the sale of 8202. 8401's parts were given to 8202 for its new owners

[Canadian National]

8401 has officially been retired as of a result of the sale of 8202. 8401's parts were given to 8202 for its new owners

This is some terrible news! Is there more!?

[Cogeno]

I'm stopping by at the garage tomorrow morning for the charter. I will see if I can find out if anything else has recently been axed.

[M.Wright]

http://www.octranspo.com/fares/Fare_news.htm

Look at the bus tickets LOL

Old price New Price

Bus Ticket $1.00 $1.15

Adult Regular route - 2 tickets $2.00 $2.00

Adult Express route - 3 tickets $3.00 $3.00

Adult Rural Express route - 4 tickets $4.00 $4.00

Child - 1 bus ticket $1.00 $1.00

Obviously someone didn't do the math as it should look more like this:

Old price New Price

Bus Ticket $1.00 $1.15

Adult Regular route - 2 tickets $2.00 $2.30

Adult Express route - 3 tickets $3.00 $3.45

Adult Rural Express route - 4 tickets $4.00 $4.60

Child - 1 bus ticket $1.00 $1.15

Now at this point, cash top up fare is cheaper than ticket top up fare.

[Cogeno]

As of our garage visit today, it's safe to say 8401(duh), 8802, and 8904 have been axed. 8620 was missing its transmission at the garage, but it didn't show any signs of being retired.

Pics:

[tomsbuspage]

http://www.octranspo.com/fares/Fare_news.htm

Look at the bus tickets LOL

Old price New Price

Bus Ticket $1.00 $1.15

Adult Regular route - 2 tickets $2.00 $2.00

Adult Express route - 3 tickets $3.00 $3.00

Adult Rural Express route - 4 tickets $4.00 $4.00

Child - 1 bus ticket $1.00 $1.00

Obviously someone didn't do the math as it should look more like this:

Old price New Price

Bus Ticket $1.00 $1.15

Adult Regular route - 2 tickets $2.00 $2.30

Adult Express route - 3 tickets $3.00 $3.45

Adult Rural Express route - 4 tickets $4.00 $4.60

Child - 1 bus ticket $1.00 $1.15

Now at this point, cash top up fare is cheaper than ticket top up fare.

OC have updated their price list.

DayPass Improvements

On May 2, the price of a DayPass purchased on the bus dropped from $7.25 to $7. Additionally, families can now travel with a DayPass on Saturdays, in addition to Sundays and statutory holidays, which makes transit more affordable on weekends. One $7 DayPass provides unlimited same-day travel on all Regular and Express routes.

Please note that DayPass vouchers are no longer sold at vendors. However, if you have a pre-purchased DayPass voucher, it will be accepted on the bus.

Interesting... the DayPass price has actually gone down. But now that means I need $7 in coins in order to buy one on a bus with a Duncan farebox. ::

Some news items from Ottawa city council:

City endorses interest arbitration for transit workers

Council unanimously endorsed a joint union-management proposal that will prevent transit strikes or lockouts by settling future unresolved labour negotiations with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279 through interest arbitration. The proposal must still be ratified by the Local’s membership.

Interest arbitration is a process for parties negotiating a collective agreement to have their bargaining disputes resolved by an independent third party. It also eliminates the ability for either side in a labour negotiation dispute to strike or engage in a lockout.

If the ATU Local 279 membership also endorses interest arbitration in its vote next month, they will join virtually all unionized City staff in resolving negotiations without service disruption. Interest arbitration has not resulted in the awarding of larger contract settlements compared to other major cities.

Since the strike, the City’s senior management and the ATU leadership have been discussing the importance of transit service to the public and the need to improve the union-employer relationship with the goal of preventing the loss of transit service in the future. These discussions have led to a joint proposal to adopt interest arbitration as a means of resolving future collective bargaining disputes.

Downtown transit tunnel corridor approved

Council approved the recommended corridor alignment and station options for the downtown Ottawa transit tunnel. The project includes 12.5 km of Light Rail Transit track, extending from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair Road with 13 transit stations. The route includes a downtown tunnel from Lebreton Flats to the University of Ottawa, with four stations at Lyon/Bay, O’Connor/Metcalfe, the Rideau Centre and the University of Ottawa Campus Station.

Ideas will be solicited from property owners within and adjacent to the corridor on station access, development and design. Staff will work with the business community to seek partnerships along the corridor to integrate stations and transit infrastructure within existing buildings or proposed development to improve ridership and reduce the City’s overall costs.

Recognizing the role of Rideau Centre and area businesses as imporant economic generators, Council directed staff to develop a plan for bus route changes to connect with the light rail line at the Rideau Centre and to investigate ways to maximize connection convenience for customers travelling from points west of Tunney’s Pasture Station to the downtown core, Gatineau or OTrain service.

Bus route changes aimed at improving OC Transpo service

Council approved changes to the OC Transpo route network to improve customer service and system efficiency. The changes, scheduled to take effect in September, include:

- Improvements from Riverview Station and Leitrim Station to downtown, and a revised route structure within Riverside South.

- Revisions to express routes and all-day local routes in Orléans east of Tenth Line Road.

- A revised route structure in the Britannia, Richmond Road, Dovercourt, and Westboro areas.

- The combination of local and direct-to-downtown services to create frequent feeder routes to the nearest Transitway station in the Crystal Beach, Carson Grove, and Blackburn Hamlet areas.

- Conversion of routes 51, 55, 124, 156, 172, and 178 to frequent feeder routes from limited peak-period direct-to-downtown trips.

- Extending or revising existing routes in Blossom Park, Riverside South, and the Renaud Road area of Orléans to provide new transit service in new residential areas.

- A local service similar to the current Route 18 will continue to be provided between Westboro Station and Carlingwood Mall, operating from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.0

Ottawa takes on Yellowknife in Commuter Challenge

City Council has taken up a challenge from Sierra Club Canada to compete with Yellowknife City Council to see which group of councillors can find the greenest ways to commute in the 2009 Commuter Challenge during the week of May 31 to June 6.

The Challenge, which takes place during Canadian Environment Week and includes Clean Air Day on June 3, is a national program that encourages Canadians to walk, cycle, ride-share, carpool, telework or take transit instead of driving alone to work.

The Commuter Challenge encourages competition between workplaces and communities across Canada to see which has the highest percentage participation rates during the week. It supports workplaces as they encourage their employees to leave their cars at home for their personal health, the health of their communities and the health of the environment.

In 2008, more than 3,870 people from Ottawa-Gatineau joined the Challenge, helping to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

For more details, visit 2009 Commuter Challenge.

[M.Wright]

Here's some more news, well it's not really news that Rainer Bloess is acting like a idiot, especially with his best pal O'Brien out of office.

Double thinking 'cute' buses

By DEREK PUDDICOMBE

Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess isn't riding high on the city's new double-decker buses.

The councillor said he wants answers from city staff as to the viability of the buses and has submitted an official inquiry to staff.

Bloess said at first the idea of a double-decker bus travelling down city streets was "cute," but the novelty has worn off.

The first problem, Bloess said, is double-deckers are more expensive to operate than expected.

On a traditional bus, only one city employee is needed to operate the vehicle. However, Bloess has learned that on occasion there are two employees on a double-decker bus -- the driver and a second employee to make sure there are no passengers sitting or standing on the stairs that lead to the upper deck.

'BAD PLANNING'

Bloess is also concerned it takes longer to load and unload passengers from the double-decker buses, which holds up buses travelling behind.

"Every second you lose impairs travel times," said Bloess. "Why are we using them? We are now realizing those things bring more problems with them than anticipated.

"It's bad planning."

Two double-decker buses were introduced to the fleet about two months ago as part of a one-year pilot project. The buses hold up to 96 passengers -- 82 seated and 14 standing -- which is more than the articulated buses.

Bay Coun. Alex Cullen, chairman of the transit committee, admited there's an issue with boarding times, but said Bloess might be jumping to other conclusions without letting the pilot project run its course.

"There are pluses and there are minuses," said Cullen.

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/...670681-sun.html

[Canadian National]

So it turns out OC Transpo is in the stages of replacing all the bus stop flags with new ones. The only difference between the old ones and the new ones, is that the new ones have a different font, size and italic bus stop numbers. The only reason that I can think of as to why OC Transpo are replacing the bus stop flags is because their is a Route 125 flag near my house, and it's dated from the year 2000, and it has already started to crack in many places, and the face of the flag has begun to peel away.

[MCIBUS]

So it turns out OC Transpo is in the stages of replacing all the bus stop flags with new ones. The only difference between the old ones and the new ones, is that the new ones have a different font, size and italic bus stop numbers. The only reason that I can think of as to why OC Transpo are replacing the bus stop flags is because their is a Route 125 flag near my house, and it's dated from the year 2000, and it has already started to crack in many places, and the face of the flag has begun to peel away.

Why?

I mean theuy where only replace a few years ago? When OC went to the Maple Leaf Paint scheme. I see nothing wrong with the signs they have now. Instead of wasting money on that they should spend it on something better.

[Canadian National]

Why?

I mean theuy where only replace a few years ago? When OC went to the Maple Leaf Paint scheme. I see nothing wrong with the signs they have now. Instead of wasting money on that they should spend it on something better.

Only replaced a few years ago? This is 2009, not 2002. I know for a fact that their is a Route 1, 316 bus stop flag in downtown that has the face of the sign peeled almost half way. I see all the reasons why they should replace it.

[M.Wright]

Only replaced a few years ago? This is 2009, not 2002. I know for a fact that their is a Route 1, 316 bus stop flag in downtown that has the face of the sign peeled almost half way. I see all the reasons why they should replace it.

Still a waste of money in my opinion. Some of the signs they are replacing (like the one near my house) was perfectly fine, Sure it had many layers of 117s on it from the suspensions over the summer but other than that, it was fine.

But that 1 and 316 stop is really in need for replacement. But a sign should only be replaced when it is no longer valid or is illegible. They do that with street signs, as we still have street signs in this city that have 1992 on them. That's nearly 20 years and their still looking good.

In fact near downtown on the abandoned portion of Old Wellington between Wellington and Lebreton Station, we have a directional sign that is probably 40 years old made out of wood that is still good. It is even reflective still.

[tomsbuspage]

I don't know if anyone's posted this yet...

Driver work-rest change irks MP

'Partisan politics' blamed for new regulatory regime

By DEREK PUDDICOMBE, CITY HALL BUREAU

A Liberal MP is accusing the federal minister of transport of again meddling in municipal affairs.

Marcel Proulx, who represents the riding of Hull-Aylmer, said yesterday that John Baird is out of line in imposing federal work-rest regulations on public transit operators.

"What this is about is partisan politics," said Proulx. "He wanted to solve a problem that only exists in Ottawa. He has mingled into this. It's pretty arrogant by the minister."

The rules, announced this week, will limit bus drivers in Ottawa and Gatineau to working a maximum of 14 hours a day with eight hours between shifts and at least one 24-hour period off every two weeks.

Baird, who announced the changes after hearing that some Ottawa bus drivers were working more than 20 hours a day, took exception to Proulx's attack.

"Who could possible defend a bus driver working 21 hours straight and then doing the same thing all over again in a few hours?" he said, adding Ottawa councillors asked the government to consider the change. "I take responsibility for the safety of Canadians seriously."

Proulx said Gatineau's public transit system, the Societe de transport de l'Outaouais (STO), has a better relationship with its bus drivers' union than OC Transpo does in Ottawa. Drivers' schedules was the key issue behind last winter's 53-day transit strike in Ottawa.

The federal government oversees the Ottawa and Gatineau transit companies because they cross the provincial border. The only other transit company that falls under federal oversight is Windsor's because it crosses into the U.S.

Gatineau transit officials want the federal government to reconsider the change because it will have a significant impact on its budget.

STO spokeswoman Celine Gauthier said Gatineau's transit service has never had any safety issues from its work-rest rules and the change will require 15 additional drivers and boost its expenses by $1 million.

"We certainly want to make sure Transport Canada is aware it impacts on our operation," she said.

The City of Ottawa figures the change will save it money, but insists it's really about safety.

The chairman of Ottawa's Transit committee, Bay Coun. Alex Cullen, said he doesn't think the government will turn around and exempt STO drivers.

"At the end of the day it comes down to safety," he said. "I wish them luck."

DEREK.PUDDICOMBE@SUNMEDIA.CA

[M.Wright]

Well I guess if STO wants to, they can blame OC Transpo for having the strike in the first place that caused the federal government to start tweak with their rules.

In the citizen they also mention Transit Windsor is not really happy about this either, but there seems to be no mention of Windsor in the sun.

[OC8792]

sorry to bring you guys off topic but me and my friends are planning on going on the 94 just because of the double decker and it hasnt been out for a while so would anyone happen to know if it will be operating on the 19th ( friday)

thanks

[Canadian National]

sorry to bring you guys off topic but me and my friends are planning on going on the 94 just because of the double decker and it hasnt been out for a while so would anyone happen to know if it will be operating on the 19th ( friday)

thanks

It's impossible to predict if it will be in service on any days in the future. It'll be in service when it can. Good Luck.

[OC8792]

It's impossible to predict if it will be in service on any days in the future. It'll be in service when it can. Good Luck.

alright thank you lol

[Cre47]

Province sends $18M for new buses

By Jake Rupert, The Ottawa CitizenJune 11, 2009 12:01 PM

OTTAWA — The city snagged $18 million from a provincial bus replacement fund this year, and municipal officials say it will speed up the purchase of new hybrid vehicles.

The funding announcement was made by Ottawa West-Nepean MPP and Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson at city hall Thursday.

Last year, Ottawa received $10 million of $50 million available to municipalities yearly across the province. Watson said the funding almost doubled this year because the city’s application stood out against other jurisdictions’.

Under the program, the province will fund one-third of the cost of 68 new hybrid buses the city will be purchasing in the coming months to replace old ones.

Bay Councillor Alex Cullen, who chairs city council's transit committee, said the money is already accounted for in the city’s budget.

Watson also said the city should know the fate of another, much larger funding application in a few months.

The city has asked the federal and provincial government for $600 million each to pay for the first phase of its new $1.8-billion, mass-transit plan, which includes a 12.5-kilometre, east-west, light-rail line running across downtown in a subway.

Neither government has committed funding yet.

Watson said provincial officials are poring over the city’s plans and application, but that on a project so large and complex, it will take a few months before a decision is made.

The federal government is going through the same process.

© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen

[Gregory]

Details describing all the changes that will be coming in the fall will be published here on octranspo.com by the end of June.

In the meantime, original proposals are still available for your review - please keep in mind that many of these have changed. The final report to council which incorporates public comments and suggestions, is available on ottawa.ca.

[Enviro_1203]

According to a bulletin I saw yesterday, there is supposed to be a Transitway tour next thursday night from 6-9 with one of the double deckers. Does anybody know anything about this?

[Canadian National]

Highlights for new summer service and changes:

Rideau Street Detour – July 6 to August 28

Routes 7, 12, 14, 15, 18, 306 and 316 will be on detour from July 6 until approximately August 28 due to the closure of the intersection at Rideau Street and King Edward for repairs.

Chaudière Detour – Revised June 21

Starting Sunday, June 21, Routes 8, 88 and 105 will once again operate via the Chaudière Bridge and will no longer loop around the War Museum.

St. Laurent Station Renovations – June 21- August 29

The local platform on the upper level at St. Laurent Station will be closed for maintenance and rehabilitation work from June 21 to August 29 inclusive. All buses will be detoured to the lower level of the station. Temporary bus stops will be installed on St. Laurent Blvd. southbound next to the station, and across the street at the corner of the bus roadway.

The elevators will also be replaced and may be unavailable for a period of time, which will be posted on the web site.

During the rehabilitation work, the Sales and Information Centre will remain open, except for the period from July 1 to 26. The Sales Centre will also be open on Saturday, June 27, and Saturday, August 1, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

[Centralsmt]

Highlights for new summer service and changes:

Rideau Street Detour – July 6 to August 28

Routes 7, 12, 14, 15, 18, 306 and 316 will be on detour from July 6 until approximately August 28 due to the closure of the intersection at Rideau Street and King Edward for repairs.

This will be an interesting one because theres no real straightforward detour that the buses can take without missing a fair piece of Rideau Street in the process.