Talk:OC Transpo

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Contents

[edit] Criticism

Added a section labelled criticism.

I also added information about OC Transpo's requirement that bus pass holders give their names, and show them on their bus pass IDs. There is a fine for covering over this part of the ID.

I have also added information about privacy concerns, following the addition of cameras on Buses.

IDconcerns 19:06, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

  • Criticism by whom IDConcerns? This section seems distinctly POV in nature. Perhaps comparison to systems moving away from identity-linked passes (Toronto Transit Commission) and links to other sources of criticism of OC-T's move would be more appropriate? As for the use of cameras, you offer no reasoning why OC-T have put in cameras, merely undefined privacy concerns, whereas many transit systems including TTC and Dublin Bus are placing CCTV/cameras on board due to incidences of passenger-on-staff violence etc. Dowlingm 20:18, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

I think that a Criticism section is important. OC Transpo has a lot of problems. Topics such as poor scheduling, especially during off peek hours, and weekends; unreliable service; and overly long and redundant routes should be include in the article.--Mabba18 03:42, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Great sugestion. I added the page criticism. Perhaps someone will make sub-divisions. (ie.: possible improvement, etc... and perhaps other sub-pages). THE LINK IS HERE Talk:OC Tranpo/Criticism and I change the top to reflect the same.--CyclePat 18:21, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

That should be Talk:OC Transpo/Criticism, shouldn't it? You left out the s in "Transpo"... 149.99.156.76 04:29, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh darn! I left out the s... <sigh> <breath>... get my wiki fingers going again to fix that. actually... there really is no reason, Now that I think about it, to have such a page it just disctracts from the article. We might as well do our gossip on here, righ? --CyclePat 05:15, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

  • Does everyone agree with list of criticisms above? One thing I would like to add is the fact the routes that run on the same road (e.g. 86, 111, and 117, or 5, 7 and 14) run on nearly identical schedules, especially at night. They end up right after each other, and then you get no bus for 30 minutes. Can anybody word this better, or have any more suggestions of criticisms? Also, I think that it can be said that most problems stem from underfunding, and mismanagement, but can anybody give good references to this? Mabba18 04:29, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
Personal matters and feelings of the Transit system located in ottawa should not be held within the article itself. You can however feel free to discuss them under the talk section. --Maraulth 05:00, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
I should have replied sooner, but the points that I mention are facts about the schedule that OC puts out, and some of these deficiencies should be mentioned in the article.Mabba18 15:45, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 6th, 1999

Hello everyone, as you've noticed by now I've added some information I've gotten from the events that transpired at the OC Transpo HQ that day. I will be adding more information about this in the coming days, but please feel free to add more information. I'm researching the best I can in regards to the memorial service and things of the like that occured afterwards.

I was looking through the Ottawa and OC Transpo pages and didn't see mention of this tragic event. Please try and keep things good and in memory of those affected as it has touched a lot of people in many different ways. --Maraulth 04:58, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

remember that is one event of many that have occured during the course of business. If it gets to big we can alway fork it out! a couple sentences should be enought. If you get bored after that we can do the accident that happened the stalled car in the Orleans East end area. I got some connections. The only thing is we unfortunatelly must not have "Original research". Its a win lose situation... you win some and you lose some. However you may be interested to check out wikinews!

[edit] Un-Categorized Discussion

I just wanted to say that I added a tiny amount of stuff about the bus classes and the Rack&Roll program. I could probably elaborate more on certain aspects (as I have asked drivers how they feel about various different types of buses), however I would feel more comforable if other parts were summarized before development of existing parts. - RealGrouchy 17:05, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I've updated the number of accessible buses(estimation) - seems they haven't add the new Invero buses on that number - now it is (at least those in service on the second order)

[edit] External Links Images

In the External Links section i've added links in a new section called External Links - Photos which gives access to photos of buses of all the fleet

If these photos are copyrighted then they should follow image guidelines on the site. Depending on the copyright, they should instead be included into the article or sub articles for the bus types. Eric B ( T • C • W ) 00:06, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] For information

I removed the paragraph about Para Transpo because Para Transpo is not operated by OC Transpo. --Deenoe 21:20, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Environ 500 (Double Deckers)

Should we add in the article a part about the new Enviros 500, which are double-deckers buses that have been tried in various routes from Late June to Mid-July? --Deenoe 23:26, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Request for deletion of various route articles

I note that someone has sugested removing all the articles about the various routes. You can find the details on the OC Transpo Route 118 page cmacd 19:50, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I am the one who suggested the removal of ALL OC Transpo Routes articles except Route 95, 96 and 97. You can discuss this on the AfD page. --Deenoe 21:40, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Addition of Tax Rebates for bus passes?

This page is well done. However when i came to the section about the fares i thought it might be a good idea to put some information about the recent tax break for public transit users. I dont know exactly the specifics of it other than what is written on the OC Transpo site itself.

I don't really agree.. The Tax Rebate is all across Canada, not just in Ottawa. --Deenoe 17:22, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The history part.

Glad to see this, WHoever is researching should be able to trace back to Ahern and Soper, who were important early ottawa inventors. Thomas Ahearn

I recall running into the firm of Ahearn & Soper, at a conference in toronto in the 1970's —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cmacd123 (talk • contribs)

There's some information at Thomas Ahearn. No article yet on Warren Soper. The OC Transpo history should likely stick with the OC Transpo (1973+) era, since there should be other articles for OC's predecessor(s) e.g. create Ottawa Electric Railway Company, update Ottawa Transportation Commission, etc. Dl2000 02:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Alain Carle (Director of Transit Services) disappears?

CFRA reports that Alain Carle is no longer head of OC Transpo (formal title is City of Ottawa's Director of Transit Services). This City of Ottawa media advisory from 22 september does not mention Carle, which might imply that he had already lost his status (did he leave or was he dismissed?). This advisory from August 30, 2006, however, does mention him, as would be expected of any transit-related advisory. Carle's appointment was announed December 19, 2005, which would take effect in mid-March 2006. This chart on the City of Ottawa's website, last updated September 7, still lists Carle as DTS.

The Ottawa Sun reports speculates further. The Sun article also reports that Helen Gault is acting as DTS. Gord Diamond was DTS prior to Carle.

The reason I mention this on WP and not WN is that it would be fitting to name the director of OC Transpo in the OC Transpo article, although harder to do now that there isn't one.

--RealGrouchy 23:58, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Note: this Ottawa Citizen article provides some actual information. --RealGrouchy 00:05, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Retired fleet

Maybe we should add a section about the retired fleet.--Deenoe 00:27, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

I've added the retired bus fleets from GM and Orion (from 1961) courtesy of the YAhoo's OC Transpo Fan Club (although i'm not a fan)--JForget 14:05, 7 November 2006 (UTC)
You're on the Yahoo Group? Me too. --Deenoe 23:00, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Corrections

This paragraph needs to be rewritten and corrected for any errors or unclear phrasing (I don't know enough about these facilities to do so). Waterloowarrior 07:01, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

There are three bus depots located throughout the city. The largest and headquarters is located at 1500 St-Laurent boulevard, two other smaller but frequently used depots are located on Colonnade Road and the other on Queensview Drive. The Queensview and Colonnade garages are usually for employees working during the rush hour and consists mostly of older buses although some articulated buses can be found at Colonnade and other low-floor buses at both Colonnade and Queensview.

[edit] External Links

I have added a link to a discussion board, and removed the "How To Take the Bus" link as it does not related to OC Transpo directly. Also, does anyone know how to remove the wikibooks box, because the book it refers to does not seem to exist anymore.

[edit] No. In Fleet

Why is there an asterix next to the No. in fleet title and next to some numbers of that column. --Deenoe 22:03, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

The asterix besides the number means that there have been buses retired from that model. We're keeping the total number of buses it has, so the number of buses of that model are currently below that. Once all buses are retired, it will be removed. Of course, i'm tracking it will the Transit Forum from the Greater Ottawa region so to be up to date as much as possible

The one for the Invero buses from 4439 and up is that it is expected to be the number of buses from that delivery that will be under service. The asterix will stay until all buses enters service. I should have removed the one I beside the Invero batch that was delivered over the past, about a couple of months ago.--JForget 17:20, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Service/ridership levels

I have replaced this paragraph:

In the past, this service won an award for being the best in North America. Service levels have since declined, however, as funding cutbacks have led to route changes and reductions. Over the twenty year period, 1986 to 2006, OC Transpo has seen virtually no growth in ridership, although the city of Ottawa has grown exponentially during this time period.

with:

In the past, this service won an award for being the best in North America. Although Ottawa's population has increased by 25% (from 678,000 to 850,000) in the last decade, service levels have increased 6% from 1996 to 2006 (50 million km to 53.2 million km per year), and ridership has gone up 12% from 80 million riders a year to 89.6 million.

The original paragraph's reference is to a 1996 report, so that cannot be used to say that ridership and service levels are down from 1986 to 2006. If we can find a 1986 report on service levels or ridership, then we can add that info to the article. Comparing the 1996 report to OC Transpo's web page, we can see that service levels and ridership have actually gone up in the last decade, so I have changed the paragraph to reflect this. The new paragraph doesn't get into the early 90s recession which impacted all Canadian transit systems, but if you guys feel it's appropriate to mention and have a source, let's add it in as well. Cas510 19:20, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Travel times

I've noticed in the various OC Transpo stations (such as Fallowfield) that there is travel time included to the downtown core (specifically to MacKenzie King Station). Is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia, and if so, is this station a good point of reference?

After making a change to Campus station, it feels as if including precise traveltimes by bus is excessive. While I can accept travel times or distances to nearby stations (as in the case of Iris station), I'm not comfortable using a single point of reference. --Sigma 7 02:09, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Travel times between key stations could be informative, to describe one of the key operating characteristics of the transitway - Mackenzie King, terminus points, major transfer stations like Hurdman would be a good representative set without going into the detail of each station. Times from OC Transpo's site (i.e. from route 95, 96, 97 schedules) should be used for the travel time calculations as these are the most verifiable. Dl2000 03:25, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
Right. I'll adjust the travel times to the following:
  • Nearby stations
  • Next/previous major stations (e.g. Orleans, St. Laurant, Hurdman, Makenzie King, Lebreton, Lincoln Fields, Baseline, Fallowfield, Bayshore, Terry Fox, and Billings Bridge.)
  • Terminus to terminus, or first major to last major.
The stations seem to cover enough of the major landmarks that I won't list them seperatly. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to comment. --Sigma 7 12:59, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm all done with the work. Feel free to take a look and make improvements. --Sigma 7 22:06, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Colours in station articles..

I think the colours in the stations articles don't work at all. First of all gray and blue/red.. that's not really good colours. Secondly, like GoodDay mentionned about the tables in OC Transpo routes, its very unaccesible for visually impaired people (especially the numbers like 406) --Deenoe 01:05, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The snow snarls/Articulated buses problems

Should we just put the problems regarding the articulated buses during snow storms into one section and not with sections on Snow Snarl 1, Snow Snarl 2, etc. Besides, there were several jack-kniffed buses on December 3 as well.--JForget 23:39, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Yeah seriously, I was coming to say the same thing. Come on guys? Are we going to do a new section for every damn snow snarl that falls on the City, and that causes major delays with OC Transpo. --Deenoe 15:30, 2 January 2008 (UTC)