OC Transpo Route 97 is a major transitway route that serves important areas across the City of Ottawa including the downtown core and the Ottawa International Airport. It starts at Bayshore Station near the Bayshore Shopping Centre and ends at either South Keys or the Airport. Several trips each day start or end at Tunney's Pasture. Some rush hours trips also serve Woodridge Crescent after serving Bayshore. It is also used as an alternative to the 96 from Bayshore to Hurdman Station and thus provides improved service to the central transitway, the downtown core and Bayshore Shopping Centre. This also helps on transfers at Hurdman, Lincoln Fields and Bayshore to local routes, some of which in the east end extend to Hurdman.
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The 97 was created when the transitway gradually expanded in the 1990s especially when the southeastern leg was created all the way to South Keys. In its early years the route was serving from the Bayshore area until South Keys with occasional evening and Sunday service toward the Airport. During the 1990s, an older route 96 used to follow a similar route to the 97 from Carlingwood Mall to the Ottawa Airport before it was canceled and replaced in parts by Routes 87 through Carlingwood and Hunt Club, 147 through CFB Uplands and the 97. Prior to the 96's cancellation, the 97 ended previously at Billings Bridge and later at South Keys (most trips). It replaced the 96 for the Kanata portion and eventually provided the only rapid transit along the southeast Transitway towards the Airport with more expansion planned towards the west. In 2003, the 97 travelled from Stittsville to the Ottawa Airport via Kanata, Bayshore and downtown.
In 2004, the city suddenly introduced a major change by splitting route 97 into two different routes which included the new route OC Transpo Route 96. The 97 lost the section between Kanata and Stittsville which is now served by the 96 which also travels via Highway 417 between Queensway Station and Bayshore. The 97 also lost its early morning service to Pinecrest Garage to the 96, since the latter one was traveling much closer to it then the 97 - in the late 1990s the early morning trips were running from Kanata to Pinecrest while travelling on the southwest Transitway from Lincoln Fields Station until Iris Station before travelling on Iris Street and Pinecrest Road before serving the Garage ending/starting the trip. [1] By staying on Carling and Richmond only, it sped up the early morning trips by several minutes. Local Routes 154 and 172 provides additional service on Pinecrest Road while the 96 served the area at the 417 (the future Pinecrest Station part of the western Transitway expansion).
Also, when the route was changed, the route's schedule configuration changed in some periods. In the past, numerous trips that started at the Airport were doing a longer trip to Kanata with some extending to Stittsville. Today, many trips that start from the Airport end at Tunney's Pasture. Many trips that end at Bayshore now start at South Keys, which in the past terminated at Lebreton. This occasionally forces some riders west of Tunney's Pasture to transfer to the 97 Airport from the 97X South Keys.
In the past two years, weekday service has increased for most of the route.
In their transit realignment plan for 2009, the city planned two modifications with the 97. First, they planned on extending route 97 to Bells Corners via Richmond Road. It would terminate in an undetermined hub location in the community. The change is intended to facilitate transfers for some Kanata routes as well as a future east-west rapid transit link from Kanata to Orleans. However as of 2009, the proposal was never made nor proposed during the Transplan consultations
Also, there was a possibility that a shuttle service would replace the 97's coverage to the Airport, based on the likelihood of service by the future north-south light-rail project directly to the Airport. However, City Council have cancelled the light-rail project on December 14, 2006 which leads to a reduced likelihood of change to service to the Airport by the 97. If the light-rail project would have been done, there would have been a shuttle service from a proposed Lester Station to the Airport replacing the 97. The 97 would have ended at the Hunt Club Loop.
For the fall service change in 2010, route 97 will operate 24 hours a day during weekdays only. Service to Bayshore will terminate around 3 am nightly and will resume at around 4:45 am, meaning overnight route 97 only runs between Tunney's Pasture and Airport. Route 97 will continue to not run overnight on Saturday and Sunday.
There are two areas along this route that had been sources of security concerns over the past few years. The first section is between Bayshore Station and Lincoln Fields where there have been incidents of swarming and other incidents mostly at transit stations. The second area of concern is located in South Keys Station, where numerous similar incidents have occurred at the transitway station and more recently at Billings Bridge Station. Bayshore, South Keys, Billings Bridge and Lincoln Fields are all equipped with night-time stops in which every route is serving that particular stop and where all passengers wait at that one after 9 PM on evenings.
Ottawa's former mayor, Bob Chiarelli had introduced a unit of officers that would patrol buses, most especially at routes that are more problematic and have a history of incidents. It is possible that the 97 would be of those routes.
The 97 is considered the main commuter route for most residents living in the south end of the city in areas such as South Keys, Walkley Station and Billings Bridge, as well as areas towards downtown and Tunney's Pasture. One major park and ride facility is served by the 97 which is at the Greenboro Park and Ride in the South Keys Shopping Centre area.
It is also useful for residents in the Bayshore community during rush hours as it avoids a transfer from route 85 to the 96 or 97 at Lincoln Fields or Bayshore. Additional service between Lincoln Fields and Bayshore is also provided by routes 2, 85, 96, 152, 154, 172 and 182 that travels via the 417, Carling Avenue, Richmond Road or various neighborhoods such as Craig Henry (Route 172), Foster Farm (Route 154) or Iris (Route 152).
Like the 95 and 96, it serves all major downtown touristic areas such as the Canadian War Museum, the Byward Market, the Rideau Canal and Parliament Hill. Students are also using this route to get to the University of Ottawa while travellers from the Ottawa Airport can use it as a direct link towards downtown.
The 97's route is located among several major shopping districts. It serves 3 major malls such as Bayshore Shopping Centre, Billings Bridge Plaza and the Rideau Centre. In addition it serves smaller shopping centres such as South Keys Shopping Centre on Bank Street and Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre located on Carling Avenue as well as the Sparks Street Mall, World Exchange Plaza, L'Esplanade Laurier and the Bank Street Promenade all located downtown.
Despite its long coverage, regular buses were used for many years on this route instead of articulated buses. When the Rack-and-Roll program started in the early 2000s, some MCI's 89 and 91 models along with some Orion V's 97 and 98 models were used during the bike season. Starting in the winter of 2001, they've introduced the New Flyer's D60LF articulated buses on certain trips weekdays and Sundays. Those buses were introduced in 2002 on the Saturday Service. Today, the D60LF models are used for the vast majority of the trips with occasional Invero and Orion V models on certain trips. Some trips are served by a double decker bus, the Enviro500, made by British bus firm Alexander Dennis.
Since September 2008, many of the 97 trips that departs from Tunney's Pasture were replaced by new OC Transpo Route 98, an extension of the former Route E84 route that runs from Greenboro Station to the Greenboro community east of Conroy Road. Every 1 out of 2 weekday trips and all weekend trips where the 97 starts at Tunney's Pasture were replaced by the 98. All 97 weekends trips as well as all weekday evening trips runs the entire route while midday trips still consists of half of trips running from Bayshore to South Keys and the other half from the Airport to Tunney's Pasture. The purpose of the change was to provide a direct connection from the Greenboro community towards downtown. There is no eastbound morning rush hour and westbound afternoon rush hour service between Greenboro and downtown although westbound 98s during the afternoon peak continue as Route 97. [2]
Local service in Greenboro is balanced and alternating between OC Transpo Route 114 which replaced C84 along the route during non-peak times. Service in the community is every 5 minutes during peak periods, 15 minutes middays during the week and most of Saturdays, 30 minutes on evenings from Monday to Saturday as well as in the peak period in the opposite main commuting direction and mostly every hour on Sundays except every 20 minutes during Sunday afternoons.
Previously used as the Highway 417 crosstown route from Orleans to Bayshore (and Kanata at peak periods) until 2007. Route 99 was re-introduced in 2009 as a rapid-transit route during the TransPlan consultation process. Plans are for a new rapid transit corridor designated to connect Riverside South with the southeast transitway at South Keys Station. Route 99 runs from the new Riverview Station to Greenboro Station via Spratt, Limebank, Leitrim, Albion, Lester and the Airport Parkway. The route replaces route 145 (which remains exclusively in Riverside South) as local route all day to Greenboro and Rural Express Route 45 towards downtown during the rush hour (the two Route 245 trips provided as extensions without transfer). Route 189 was also introduced to replace extra route 145 trips along River Road during rush hour - those trips are extensions of downtown route 99 trips. The route generally runs every 30 minutes from Monday to Saturdays except every 10 to 15 minutes during rush hour towards downtown. Sunday service is every 60 minutes. [3].
Since September 2008, OC Transpo Route 106 replaces portions of Route 85 which now runs only between Bayshore Station and Hurdman Station. Route 106 runs between Hurdman and Elmvale Shopping Centre via the Ottawa General Hospital and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. It is designated as a Rapid Transit Route. The purpose of the changes was to improve reliability on Route 85 which was often criticized for being too long and often behind schedule by several minutes. Service is similar to the 85 with mostly 15 minute service during off-peak periods except every 20 minutes on Sundays and 30 minutes on early weekend mornings and late-evenings. Eastbound morning rush hour service and westbound afternoon rush hour service is running every 7–8 minutes between Hurdman and the Hospitals. [4]
Starting in Blossom Park, Route 40 provides additional service during peak hours to downtown. It continues to Gatineau after exiting the Transitway in downtown, going to major employment centres such as Place du Portage and the Terrasses de la Chaudière. Some trips also continue to Lebreton. It travells northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening with a frequency of 5-20min[1]. Routes 142 and 144 provide additional service in Blossom Park.
97X DOWNTOWN/TUNNEY'S PASTURE : Several trips during the day terminate at Tunney's Pasture. Previously, these trips ended at Lebreton, but to avoid forcing passengers to transfer in order to access the O-Train at Bayview Station or Tunney's Pasture, they extended the trips further west. After the route changes were made in 2004, most trips that end at Tunney's start at the Airport.
97 BAYSHORE : Most trips end at Bayshore Station. All weekday midday trips that start from South Keys Station, as well as weekday evening, weekday early morning, and all weekend trips end at Bayshore Station.
97 BELLS CORNERS VIA BAYSHORE : These trips are extended via Richmond to serve Bells Corners after serving Bayshore Station. They operate at 30 minute frequencies seven days a week for most of the day, replacing route 166.
97X SOUTH KEYS. All trips that end at South Keys Station start at Bayshore Station. They do not serve the Airport.
97 AIRPORT VIA SOUTH KEYS. Represents the southern terminus of the route. All trips that start from Tunney's Pasture Station, some trips from Bayshore Station, and some trips from Bells Corners end at the Airport.
Frequent service from South Keys to Hurdman Station and then to Tunney's Pasture is provided by both the 97 and 98. Route 99 and 40 also provide rush hour service downtown. Westbound morning rush hour trips and eastbound afternoon trips on the 97 have service every 5–7 minutes between Tunney's and the Airport with 15 minutes from Bayshore. Rush hour service on the 98 is provided every 5–10 minutes on the main community direction although does not run north of Greenboro on the opposite direction (AM southbound and PM northbound). Midday service in both directions is every 6 minutes from Tunney's Pasture and South Keys with service to Bayshore and the Airport every 15 minutes. Rush hour trips that serve Woodridge are every 10 minutes through the whole length of the trip during the morning and even 7–10 minutes in the afternoon. Evening service is about 7–15 minutes in the Tunney's Pasture-South Keys stretch with 15 minute-service elsewhere.
Similar service is provided for most of Saturdays except 15-minute early morning service for the entire route. Evening service is every 10 minute for the busiest portion with 20 minutes for Bayshore and the Airport.
Sunday service is mostly every 15 minutes for all the route with the exception of midday service in which there is 10-minute frequencies on the busiest portion with 20 minute service for Bayshore and the Airport.
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