Ottawans still riding the bus...

... despite every effort by OC Transpo to stop them:

OC Transpo did not expect ridership numbers to return to normal until the fall, but the transport company's statistics show that ridership this March was only 2.8 per cent lower than it was in March 2008.

Personally, I've reduced my ridership by 38.5%, (2.5 days per week from 4), and now that the Tamils are making arrival times less predictable, I'll probably ride even less.  I guess not everyone has the luxury of alternate transportation, or the option of working from home.

Also, I'm looking forward to decent cycling weather so I can reduce my bus ridership to 0%!

OC Ohno

This sounds insane:

Staff have come up with a plan to reduce the City of Ottawa's fuel consumption by 25%, but it would require drastic transit service cuts and cause a decline in ridership. ... The policy report, expected to be tabled at next week's transportation committee meeting, suggests eliminating 20 bus routes and reducing transit service by 25% to all areas of the city. It also proposes eliminating all morning-transit service for Riverside South.

It seems a bit like the "musical ride" style cutback: propose something so ludicrous, it is rejected out of hand. Smart move, City staff. Though proposing something useful, like replacing older buses with fuel-efficient ones, might make more sense. Cutting back bus service may reduce the City's fuel consumption, but increase overall consumption as spurned riders get back into their cars. On a related note:

Transit fares are paying less and less of the cost of running OC Transpo, but officials with the company are hoping a new fare structure, including a 7.5 per cent fare hike, will close the gap. ... A report going to city councillors on the transit committee next week says the cause of the widening gap is increased demand for longer trips downtown from the suburbs and higher fuel prices.

Guilty parties include residents of Bells Corners on the 69. I wonder how much more than the 7.5 per cent "average" prince increase the long-haul express routes will enjoy?

Slow week ahead

I'm out of town for the week, so no new content until next Monday... sorry! In the meantime:

About 40 protesters carrying signs that read "Save the Parkway" showed up Monday night at an open house at the Nepean Sportsplex about possible routes for Ottawa's proposed light rail network.

I wanted to attend this open house, but ran out of time. But wouldn't it be nice if residents could see past their own fears and imagine how great light rail along the parkway would be for the entire city? How about getting protesters together to demand light rail in their neighbourhood? Maybe run the track down the strip? Who's with me????

Waiting for the short bus

OC Transpo has released it's 2007 Annual Performance Report, with an interesting analysis of "on-time performance":

In 2007, service reliability was at 76%, a slight decrease from 77% in 2006. The proposed policy target is for OC Transpo bus trips to adhere to published schedules 90% of the time. The policy standard for on-time performance is not to run early and to be no more than five minutes late. On Transitway routes, the adherence to the time between buses (called headway) is of greater importance than the posted times. This measure is under investigation for measurement using our new GPS system. This measurement would be of significant value for the future.

24% actually seems a bit low for late buses, at least for the 69, which runs through Bells Corners. It is >5 minutes late about half the time in the morning, and about 3/4 of the time in the afternoon. It's even worse in the winter, when I would say it's more than 5 minutes late at least 100% of the time.

Which brings me to my cranky old man suggestion of the day: OC Transpo should have some sort of "guarantee" of performance. If your bus is more than 10 minutes late, you get a free ride. Right now it would be complicated to implement, as many commuters have already bought monthly passes. But with the new smart card system, it would be simple. If your bus is late, swipe the card, and a credit is added to your account for next month's pass purchase.

Another argument for bike lanes

This is just so sad:

An 18-year-old woman is in serious but stable condition in hospital after she was hit by a taxi while cycling in Ottawa's west end Wednesday morning.

The cyclist's head hit the windshield of the taxi and she was thrown about the length of a parking space before landing on the road near Robertson Road and Vanier Street in the Bells Corners neighbourhood at about 9:30 a.m., said an Ottawa paramedic service news release.

Vanier is the entrance to the trailer park. I don't understand how there's room for 5 lanes of traffic along the strip, but no room for bike lanes. The strip connects two important cycling corridors in the west end: to the west there's the trans-Canada trail and other NCC trails near Nortel. To the east there's the trail system starting at Shouldice Farms, leading down to Andrew Haydon Park, and ultimately connecting to downtown and points beyond. The strip is a bike-lane-free zone between them. How many cyclists have to bounce of windshields before we get better biking infrastructure in Bells Corners?

If you fail to plan you plan to fail

So my old swim coach would remind us, and we had no frickin' idea what he was talking about. But in the case of transportation, it's actually true. The City of Ottawa is updating its Transportation Master Plan , and we're invited to contribute . There are two open houses near Bells Corners: OPEN HOUSE – WEST Thursday, September 18 Glen Cairn Community Centre, Upper Hall, 190 Morrena Drive OPEN HOUSE – SOUTH/WEST Monday, September 22 Nepean Sportsplex, Salon A, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue You need to sign up to attend.