Barchin Qardash has watched the Route 48 bus completely disappear from her transit app more than once. Qardash is often stuck standing at the Carleton bus stop every Friday afternoon.
“Having scheduled runs canceled without warning completely ruins your day,” Qardash said. “A commute that should take 20 minutes can easily turn into an hour-long ordeal if one transfer window gets misaligned.”
Starting Aug. 30, commuters like Qardash will have a new route to connect with. The updated 48 Hurdman/Carleton will travel between Carleton and Billings Bridge via Bronson Avenue, Riverside Drive and Data Centre Road, instead of by Bank Street and Sunnyside Avenue.
After the adjustment, the route will closely follow the existing route of the 111 Billings Bridge/Carleton until it reaches Billings Bridge.
In an Aug. 13 memo to Ottawa city council, OC Transpo said the section between Carleton University and Billings Bridge was being changed to resolve operational issues along the current route.
Capital Coun. Shawn Menard offered a more specific explanation in his July 23 newsletter, saying the segment of the route was redesigned primarily due to safety concerns regarding the eastbound right turn from Sunnyside Avenue onto Bank Street.
OC Transpo did not respond in time for publication regarding further details on the safety concern or the decision-making behind the reroute.
The 48 is still a relatively new transit option for Carleton students. It launched in April 2025 as a part of OC Transpo’s New Ways to Bus network redesign, replacing Route 46.
With the 48’s reroute, students looking to commute through Old Ottawa South will rely solely on the 7 St-Laurent/Carleton.
The 7 runs north and south along Bank Street before turning onto Sunnyside Avenue, but does not connect directly to Billings Bridge. Instead, it goes downtown, meaning some students may have to do additional transfers and deal with more crowding on buses to commute into Old Ottawa South.
“I only take the 48 when the 10 isn’t coming, then I take the 90 for most of the route,” said Tosca Bozza, a student who commutes to and from Carleton University.
Students like Bozza who take the 48 to move from Billings Bridge to Carleton may find this part of their commute shorter, as these stretches of Bronson Avenue and Riverside Drive both have higher speed limits and less vehicle and foot traffic than Bank Street.
But for riders like Qardash, there’s concern over the reliability of the route and transit overall.
“I’m fully expecting it [the route change] to worsen my commute,” said Qardash.
OC Transpo’s website said that help may be on the way. The 48 is among 30 routes planned to have more reliable schedules this fall, as part of its “Customer-First Action Plan”. OC Transpo predicts these citywide changes will improve reliability for over half of all riders.
Riders will see these changes take effect as a part of the broader fall service change, a week before the beginning of the university’s fall semester.
Featured image by Simon McKeown/the Charlatan
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