OC Transpo saw a “significant” boost to its ridership as it offered free fares across the transit network on Sept. 26 and 27.
Ridership increased by 28 per cent compared to a typical fall weekend, according to a memo from general manager Rick Leary, as Ottawa-area residents took advantage of free transit to attend the many events across the city.
The first of two free-fare weekends was approved by council following a motion from Capital Coun. Shawn Menard as a way to compensate riders for poor transit performance and to attract new and returning riders to the transit system.
The September weekend was an “exceptionally busy” one, Leary said, with events across the city that included the Ottawa 200 block party, Nuit Blanche, Soundscape, Pique, and the Ottawa Titans’ championship-winning baseball game on Sept. 27.
The O-Train ‘s east-west Line 1 had the largest increase, with ridership up 57 per cent, representing 45,600 additional customer trips over a typical fall weekend, Leary said.
Lines 2 and 4 showed an increase of 21 per cent.
Bus ridership was up 14 per cent and Para Transpo ridership saw an 11 per cent increase.
OC Transpo staff set up an information booth during the Ottawa 200 block party at Marion Dewar Plaza near City Hall, where they displayed a vintage OC Transpo bus and other historic transit artifacts.
OC Transpo also held an open house on Sept. 26 at the future Place d’Orléans Station, where visitors were invited to explore the new station and to board a train.
Another free weekend is planned for a future date once the LRT’s east extension to Orléans has been completed.
The long-delayed east extension to Orléans has been pushed back by at least another month due to a “safety-critical” software issue.
OC Transpo officials had said on Sept. 10 that the LRT east extension was “progressing as planned” and a “pre-trial running” phase was forecast to begin in early October.
That forecast was pushed back to November to allow for software reprogramming.
The pre-trial running phase is expected to last about one week, followed by the trial-running phase, where all train systems must meet performance, safety and reliability standards for 21 consecutive days.
Once trial running is considered complete, there will be a series of certifications, approvals and regulatory documents that will take another five to 10 days, OC Transpo officials said.
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