OC Transpo Route 95

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Map with Route 95 shown in red

OC Transpo Route 95 is the Ottawa transit network's busiest route as it sails through mostly the Transitway segments across the city. It starts in Barrhaven mostly at the Fallowfield Station (which is also one of two VIA Rail stations in the city) and ends in Orleans, generally at the Place d'Orleans. Several trips during the weekdays continues until Trim Station a few minutes east of Place d'Orleans. On the other hand, several trips also start and ends at Baseline in the west end and a few during rush hour starts/ends at Tunney's Pasture. Since January 2007, some trips were extended to Barrhaven Centre near Riocan Marketplace via Greenbank Road and the new Strandherd Station and Park and Ride.

1 History
2 Miscellaneous
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

During the 1970s and 1980s, the old city of Ottawa approved the construction of a new transit corridor called the Transitway. The purpose of the busway was to speed up service towards downtown from the west and east ends of the city. The first sections were built in the southwestern leg between Lincoln Fields and Baseline and in the east between Lees and Hurdman in 1983. Those two sections would gradually increase in coverage with the addition of a central transitway in the Westboro and Mechanicsville areas as well as in the downtown core along Albert and Slater Streets as designated bus lanes. There was also an eastern extension towards the St. Laurent and Cyrville areas during the late 1980s.

The 95 became more important when the transitway route developed even further. Other different transit priorities measures located on Woodroffe Avenue, downtown and on Highway 174 towards Orleans were also implemented. It rapidly became the busiest route requiring very frequent service even on weekends. As the suburbs became larger, its coverage extended towards the suburbs of Barrhaven in the southwest during the 1990s and Orleans in the east during the same decade. Its expansion will continue during the upcoming years with the continuation of major developments in those two suburbs.

[edit] Recent Changes

Since 2003, OC Transpo opened a new park and ride facility at the corner of Trim Road and Highway 174 which became Trim Station. Initially, they've added rush hour trips from Lebreton to Trim. Due to the increasing demand, additionnal trips were added and frequent service is now provided on weekdays between 6 AM and midnight. There is still no weekend service but further development planned in southeastern corner Orleans, it is expected to increase during the upcoming years.

OC Transpo built a new extension of the southwest transitway in 2005. The new roadway was built parallel to Woodroffe Avenue from the Nepean Sportsplex south of Hunt Club Road towards Fallowfield Station, a station which opened in 2000. The 95 and express buses from Barrhaven are travelling along that stretch. Service on Woodroffe, previously provided by the 95 was replaced by Route 157 a rush-hour only route. The frequency of the 95 did not improved and numerous people had thought that the Southwest transitway extension was built for nothing since Woodroffe Avenue was widen to four lanes at the same time resulting a faster flow of traffic. In addition, the VIA railroad track that crosses Woodroffe and the Transitway is at-grade, which is a first on the exclusive busway network. [1]

[edit] Future Changes

Following the 2006 Transplan public consultations, OC Transpo extended the 95 south of Fallowfield Station to a new park and ride facility located at the corner of Greenbank and Strandherd across a bustling shopping district under expansion along with neighboring residential developments. In the future, a new transitway extension will be done to connect the southern sections of Barrhaven. It will be completed during the upcoming years with the creation of Strandherd and Marketplace Stations. Before its cancellation on December 14, 2006, the north-south light-rail extension project, that would have linked downtown Ottawa to South Barrhaven, would have connected with the 95 near Chapman Hills. Opposition to the light-rail project believed it would have been faster to take the 95 rather than riding the O-Train to downtown.

The city of Ottawa also conducted public consultations over the Greenbank Road extension and realignment. There are plans to add designated bus lanes along Greenbank from south of Strandherd to Cambrian Road and possibly further south in conjunction with future development growth. It is possible that the 95 and other bus service will use the corridor toward those new communities.

[edit] Buses

During the early years, GM articulated buses were used for the 95. During the late 1980's, the route was then served with Orion III Ikraus articulated buses that were built during the second half of the decade. Some of those buses were purchased from the Toronto Transit Commission in the late 1990's. However, due to rust and frame issues and the arrival of new articulated buses built by New Flyer Industries, OC Transpo gradually shifted to the New Flyer's D60LF models prior to 2003.

[edit] Purpose

This is the only transit route that serves more than one major suburban area, Barrhaven and Orleans, which explains the very frequent service compared to the 96 and 97. The 95 is serving five major park and ride facilities including Fallowfield, Strandherd, Baseline, Place d'Orleans and Trim. There are smaller facilities near Blair and Jeanne d'Arc Stations.

It also serves both of the City's Via Rail Train stations which none of them are served by the two other routes.

In addition of providing a link to commuters from both Barrhaven and Orleans to employment areas downtown, it also serves major touristic attractions including Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the Byward Market and the Canadian War Museum, located north of Lebreton Station.

It is also a major route for shoppers. In addition of new commercial district coverage with additionnal service to the Greenbank/Strandherd area, the 95 also serves College Square located at Baseline Road and Woodroffe, Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre on Carling, St. Laurent Shopping Centre, Place d'Orleans, the Rideau Centre, the Sparks Street Mall, the Bank Street Promenade and Shopper's City East near Blair Station.

Students also have access to Woodroffe High School (near Lincoln Fields), Algonquin College near Baseline Station and the University of Ottawa located along this route.

[edit] Additional bus rapid transit routes

After the 2006 TransPlan public meetings, which its purpose is to improve transit service to various communities across the city, three rapid transit routes were created and/or extended to Orleans since September 2006. The main purpose of these changes was to offer east-end residents alternative bus routes to Route 95 during the planned-construction of the O-Train in the downtown core and to improve local service in growing communities in the east end. These three routes provides frequent service in addition to Route 95 on the eastern Transitway corridor. It also followed plans by the Transportation Committee to improve travel times from the west end of the city to the east end (or vice-versa). Service to the 95 in Orleans was not modified.

[edit] OC Transpo Route 94

Route 94 is a new rush-hour route that travels from the community of Avalon to Tunney's Pasture. While its service is limited to rush-hour, OC Transpo plans on improving the frequency due to new developments south of Innes Road between Navan Road and Trim Road as well as the increase of new big-box and department stores that are located along Innes. It is unclear whether Route 94 will use a future transitway road that will link South Orleans to Blair Station and Hurdman Station.

[edit] OC Transpo Route 101

Route 99, previously running from Blair Station to Bayshore Station (and rush hours trips to Kanata North Business Park) for over 25 years, was renumbered to route 101 and extended to Orleans to allow residents to travel to the west end of the city (such as Bayshore) without travelling through downtown. However, rush hour trips to and from Kanata does not serve Orleans (which is provided by peak route Route 102 that travels to Tunney's Pasture).

The route was running every 30 minutes and 6 days a week with frequencies of 10 minutes on rush hours to (AM) and from (PM) Kanata with supplementary service towards the Booth Street federal government complex near Dow's Lake and the Carling O-Train Station. 12-15 minute service was provided during rush hour in the other direction. Service outside rush hour have been improved with buses running every 20 minutes. However, it still ends before midnight and does not run on Sundays. During its first years of operation, Route 99 was running on Sundays and late on Saturday evenings, before service cuts were made. There are no immediate plans to re-introduce Sunday service despite being designated as a bus-rapid transit route.

Both Route 101 and 102 uses the Queensway in addition to the Transitway. While Route 101 is generally much faster than crosstown route 2 that links Blair to Bayshore, it is more susceptible to lengthy delays due to accidents, traffic tie-ups and construction on Highway 417. Future Transitway extensions in the west end from Queensway Station to Bayshore Station will minimize the risk of delays on the 101.

[edit] OC Transpo Route 102

Route 102 offers similar service during rush hour towards Tunney's Pasture. It follows most of Route 101 until the Ottawa Civic Hospital on Carling Avenue. The City of Ottawa in collaboration with the local newspaper Orleans Express have offered coupons for free rides for one day to those who were travelling or trying the route from Orleans to Tunney's Pasture. Its service have replaced the supplementary trips of Route 99 from Blair to Carling but extended to Tunney's Pasture via Holland Avenue. It also replaces Route 101 for rush hour service to (PM) and from (AM) Orleans with 10-12 minute frequencies.

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] Frequencies

This road is considered the busiest of all the OC Transpo network as it serves to two booming communities and key transit stations such as Mackenzie King, Lincoln Fields, Baseline, St. Laurent and Blair which are all major transfer hubs to local or STO service. It also travels through the heart of the touristic area and the biggest employment area. It also serves three of the biggest shopping centers across the city as St. Laurent, Place d'Orleans and the Rideau Centre are all served by the 95. The heavily commercial area of Barrhaven was also added on the 95's route. It addition Route 101 serves the Pinecrest and Bayshore Shopping Centres in the west end.

The 95 is the route that is the most used every day as it runs every 4-5 minutes (10 from Fallowfield and 11-12 to Trim) on weekdays and only every 2-4 minutes during rush hour. During Saturdays, the frequencies are as short as 5 minutes (10 from Fallowfield) and on Sundays as short as 7-8 minutes (13-15 from Fallowfield). It runs every 15 minutes until 0:00 on most days and starts even before 4:00 on weekdays and ends at 2:30-3:00 each day.

[edit] Destination Signs

The 95 has several different destinations depending on the trip.

[edit] Eastbound trips

Eastbound trip signs includes :

95 Orleans - All weekend trips and more than half of weekdays trips ends at Place d'Orleans. All trips that are detoured on St. Joseph Boulevard during the overnight hours, those that are detoured on Belfast and St. Laurent during the early morning hours and those that travels on Rideau Street after 1 AM are also signed 95 Orleans (95 Fallowfield for westbound trips)

95X Cumberland/Trim Road via Orleans - Some trips are extended to Trim Station & Park And Ride between 6 AM and midnight on weekdays. As the main ridership at this station comes from Park And Ride users travelling downtown to work and workers at the nearby Taylor Creek Industrial Park, there are no weekends trips there. Some trips are coming from either Fallowfield or Baseline during most of the days with some from Tunney's Pasture during the afternoon rush hours.

[edit] Westbound Trips

Westbound trip signs includes :

95 Fallowfield (some signs say Nepean S./Fallowfield) - Every 1 out of 2 or 3 trips goes to Barrhaven during most of the day. All trips ends there in the early morning and late evening trips.

95 Barrhaven Centre - All trips that have been extended to Marketplace Station

95X Baseline - Most midday trips ends there.

95X Downtown/Centre-Ville/Tunney's Pasture (AM rush hour only) These are generally rush hours trips that departs from Trim Station and ends at Tunney's Pasture. Those trips do not serve Place d'Orleans Station but its Park And Ride facility only.