You’ve waited for your bus for half an hour and it still doesn’t show up. What do you do? You curse OC Transpo, you say they run an ineffective system, you claim the buses are never on time. We’ve all had moments when we hate Ottawa’s bus system, but what we don’t know is that it often operates efficiently and effectively.
Your bus might be late once in a while, but you never remember all the times that your bus comes when it’s supposed to. You only remember the few times it doesn’t.
According to OC Transpo’s service reports for January-June 2014, 85 per cent of buses show up either on time, or are two minutes early. Five per cent are more than two minutes early, and only nine per cent are late.
It is also easier to complain about a service than to praise it. People never tweet when their bus is on time, they will always tweet when it’s late and you have a class to catch.
If your bus is part of that nine per cent, it could ruin your day. But considering there are 144 routes to service, this is a respectable rate.
Compare OC Transpo with the transit in Toronto. Ottawa has an area of 2,778 squared kilometres compared to Toronto’s area of 630 km.² Ottawa also has one fifth of Toronto’s population.
Ottawa’s service has to work with a far larger area and a more spread out population. OC Transpo has 5,800 bus stops and 1,300 bus stops with shelters. That equals out to around one in every five stops with a shelter. Once again, it is hard to be happy about that when you are at one of the stops without a shelter.
When discussing OC Transpo, one can never forget about the O-Train. This is probably the most effective way to travel considering it is rarely late and it doesn’t get caught in traffic.
Even when the O-Train is not running, OC Transpo has a replacement bus which runs very frequently. With the planned expansion of the Confederation Line, travel will become even easier across the east and west ends of the city.
The last thing I will discuss is the bus drivers. Like I’ve said before, everyone only remembers the one driver who yelled at them or was being mean to someone else, but by and large drivers are courteous and pleasant
Whether it is a quick thank you when you flash your U-Pass or even when they let people on who do not have enough change.
Driving a bus is often difficult—there is the stress of getting people around the city safely.
All in all the OC Transpo may have its flaws, but it runs an effective system for what it’s working with. Even though it is easy to blame them when you’re late, just remember they’re doing their best.
