Report to/Rapport au:

2. DOWNTOWN TRANSIT OPERATING STRATEGIES 2007-2010

STRATÉGIES D’EXPLOITATION DES TRANSPORTS EN COMMUN DANS LE CENTRE-VILLE 2007-2010

Committee recommendation

That Council receive this report for information.

Recommandation du Comité

Que le Conseil reçoive le présent rapport à titre d’information.

Documentation

1. Deputy City Manager's report Planning, Transit and the Environment dated 1 May 2007 (ACS2007-PTE-TRA-0006).

2. Extract of Minutes 8, Transit Committee Meeting of 16 May 2007.

Report to/Rapport au:

Transit Committee

Comité du transport en commun

and Council/et au Conseil

01 May 2007/le 01 mai 2007

Submitted by/Soumis par: Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager/Directrice municipale adjointe

Planning, Transit and the Environment/Urbanisme, Transport en commun et Environnement

Contact/Personne-ressource: A. Mercier, Director/Directeur, Transit Services/Services du transport en commun

613-842-3636 ext. 2271, alain.mercier@ottawa.ca

City Wide

Ref N°: ACS2007-PTE-TRA-0006

SUBJECT:	DOWNTOWN TRANSIT OPERATING STRATEGIES 2007-2010

OBJET :	STRATÉGIES D’EXPLOITATION DES TRANSPORTS EN COMMUN DANS LE CENTRE-VILLE 2007-2010

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That the Transit Committee recommend that Council receive this report for information.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité du transport en commun recommande que le Conseil reçoive le présent rapport à titre d’information.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Assumptions and Analysis

Transit ridership on the OC Transpo system continues to grow by approximately three percent each year. The capacity of the Central Area Transitway bus-only lanes and platforms on Albert and Slater Streets is limited, and the current level of service on Slater Street in the afternoon is near the capacity of the street. In its present configuration, the street is capable of accommodating no more than 195 bus trips per hour, and the scheduled level of service has been kept below 180 bus trips per hour since 2004 to maintain service reliability. The key location that is the constraint on the system is the eastbound platform on Slater Street east of Metcalfe Street.

In 2007, staff are pursuing three strategies to reduce pressure on the capacity of Slater Street and to improve the flow of buses and the reliability of service on Slater Street over the next few years. These are:

1. Improving platforms to reduce boarding time;

2. Increasing the use of downtown bypass cross-town routes; and

3. Using more high-capacity articulated buses to accommodate ridership growth.

For the years beyond 2007 and until future rapid transit projects are decided, other possible solutions are:

Using other streets in downtown for eastbound service;
Using high-capacity double-decker buses to accommodate ridership growth;
Installing real-time bus arrival signs at downtown platforms;
Expanding or improving the O-Train service;
Consolidating express routes in the east and south parts of the City; and
Taking advantage of the Smartcard fare system to reduce boarding times.

This table shows the number of eastbound bus trips that are expected to be required in the afternoon peak period in each year from 2007 to 2010, the actions that staff plan to take to reduce that number, and the number of bus trips that would be required after the actions are taken.

Year	Number of Bus Trips Before Actions	Actions to be Taken	Number of Bus Trips After Actions Taken
2006-07	173	- Current situation	173
2007-08	191 (From 2007 Transit Service Plan)	- Improve Metcalfe platform - Use articulated buses for growth	182
2008-09	188 (182 plus 3 percent growth)	- Use articulated buses for growth - More customers on bypass routes	182
2009-10	188 (182 plus 3 percent growth)	- Use high-capacity buses for growth - More customers on bypass routes - Passenger information systems - Smart card fare collection	182
Beyond 2010	190+	- Use high-capacity buses for growth - Possible rapid transit projects - Consolidation of express routes

On December 6, 2006, Council referred to Transit Committee a motion that had been put forward to reinstate direct to downtown service in the morning peak period on Routes 126, 148 and 149. This service was removed in 2006 because of financial performance that was below the minimum standard established by Council. Those changes were not related to Council’s decision to adopt a hub-and-spoke route network in connection with the light rail project but were made because the services were not used by enough customers to justify their costs and because the operating resources are better used elsewhere in the system where they could provide greater benefits for transit customers.

Financial Implications

The costs of the service plan for 2007 have been provided in the Transit Services 2007 operating budget. The capital costs to improve downtown stops this year will be funded by the Transitway Systems Improvement account. Operating and capital funding for initiatives occurring beyond 2007 will be requested in respective budget years.

Public Consultation/Input

No consultation was carried out in the preparation of this report. Any service changes which are proposed related to the matters described in this report would be subject to the normal consultation processes defined in the Transit Service and Fare Policies adopted by Council.

RÉSUMÉ

Hypothèses et analyse

Le nombre d’utilisateurs du réseau de transports en commun OC Transpo continue d’augmenter d’environ 3 % par année. La capacité des voies du Transitway de la zone centrale réservées aux autobus et des quais des rues Albert et Slater est restreinte, et le niveau actuel de service en après-midi sur la rue Slater est pratiquement à capacité maximale. Dans sa configuration actuelle, la rue peut accommoder un maximum de 180 trajets d’autobus à l’heure depuis 2004 afin de maintenir un service fiable. La principale contrainte du système est le quai en direction est de la rue Slater à l’est de la rue Metcalfe.

En 2007, le personnel se penche sur trois stratégies visant à réduire la pression exercée sur la capacité de la rue Slater et à améliorer la circulation des autobus et la fiabilité du service sur la rue Slater au cours des prochaines années. Ces stratégies portent sur :

1. l’amélioration des quais en vue de réduire le temps d’embarquement;

2. l’augmentation de l’utilisation des circuits de contournement;

3. le recours à des autobus articulés à grande capacité pouvant desservir un plus grand nombre d’utilisateurs.

En ce qui concerne les années ultérieures à 2007, et ce jusqu’à ce que des décisions soient prises au sujet des futurs projets de transport en commun rapide, d’autres solutions potentielles seraient :

d’utiliser d’autres rues du centre-ville pour le service en direction est;
d’utiliser des autobus à deux étages de grande capacité pour desservir un plus grand nombre d’utilisateurs;
d’installer des panneaux d’arrivée des autobus en temps réel aux quais du centre-ville;
d’élargir ou d’améliorer le service O-Train;
de consolider les lignes express dans les secteurs est et sud et de la Ville;
de mettre à profit le système de paiements par carte à puce afin de réduire le temps d’embarquement.

Le tableau ci-dessous montre le nombre de trajets d’autobus en direction est qui, selon les attentes, seront nécessaires en période de pointe l’après-midi pour chaque année de 2007 à 2010, les mesures que le personnel entend prendre pour réduire ce nombre et le nombre de trajets d’autobus qui seront nécessaires une fois que ces mesures auront été prises.

Année	Nombre de trajets d’autobus avant la prise de mesures	Mesures à prendre	Nombre de trajets d’autobus après la prise de mesures
2006-07	173	- Situation actuelle	173
2007-08	191 (selon le plan des services en commun de 2007)	- Amélioration du quai de Metcalfe - Utilisation d’autobus articulés pour desservir plus d’utilisateurs	182
2008-09	188 (182 plus une croissance de 3 %)	- Utilisation d’autobus articulés pour desservir plus d’utilisateurs - Plus de clients utilisant les circuits de contournement	182
2009-10	188 (182 plus une croissance de 3 %)	- Utilisation d’autobus de plus grande capacité pour desservir plus d’utilisateurs - Plus de clients utilisant les circuits de contournement - Systèmes d’information des passagers - Mode de paiement par carte à puce	182
Après 2010	190+	- Utilisation d’autobus de plus grande capacité pour desservir plus d’utilisateurs - Projets potentiels de transport rapide - Consolidation des lignes express

Le 6 décembre 2006, le Conseil a renvoyé au Comité du transport en commun une motion ayant été déposée en vue d’instaurer à nouveau des circuits d'autobus directs à destination du centre-ville pendant la période de pointe du matin sur les circuits 126, 148 et 149. Ce service a été supprimé en 2006 parce que son rendement financier était inférieur à la norme minimale établie par le Conseil. Ces changements n’étaient pas liés à la décision du Conseil d’adopter un réseau en étoile dans le cadre du projet de système léger sur rail, mais bien parce que trop peu d’utilisateurs recourraient à ces services pour justifier leurs coûts et parce que les ressources affectées à l’exploitation sont mieux utilisées ailleurs dans le réseau là où elles procurent de plus grands avantages aux clients.

Répercussions financières

Les coûts du plan de service pour 2007 ont été fournis dans le budget de fonctionnement des services de transport en commun pour 2007. Les coûts d’immobilisations pour améliorer les arrêts du centre-ville seront imputés au compte d'amélioration du réseau du Transitway. Les fonds de fonctionnement et d’immobilisations pour les initiatives mises en place après 2007 seront demandés dans les budgets des années respectives.

Consultation publique/commentaires

Aucune consultation n’a été menée dans le cadre de la préparation du présent rapport. Tout changement de service proposé concernant les sujets décrits dans le présent rapport serait soumis au processus normal de consultation défini dans les politiques sur le service du transport en commun et sur les tarifs adoptées par le Conseil.

BACKGROUND

General

Transit ridership on the OC Transpo system continues to grow by approximately three percent each year. This continuing growth requires that the capacity of the system to carry customers also be increased each year. The capacity of Albert and Slater Streets to accommodate bus operations is limited, and the currently scheduled level of service eastbound on Slater Street in the afternoon peak hour is near the physical capacity limit of the street. As it will take several years to implement any rapid transit plan on which Council may decide, it is necessary that a strategy be in place to accommodate the continuing growth of ridership on the transit system without exceeding the physical capacity of the street network. This report presents for the information of Council the strategies that staff are using to manage the growth of the transit system over the next several years.

Motions

At its meeting of December 6, 2006, Council considered the following motion and referred it to the Transit Committee:

MOTION NO. 2/6

Moved by Councillor M. Bellemare

Seconded by Councillor P. Hume

WHEREAS in 2005 City Council approved resolutions aimed at addressing concerns regarding the proposed integration of both light rail transit and bus rapid transit on Albert and Slater Streets;

AND WHEREAS the resolutions included a direction to ensure that a minimum of 30 percent of bus traffic be removed from Albert and Slater Streets by the end of 2009;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that, in the light of the amended North-South Light Rail Transit Project, the direction be set aside, and that the removal of downtown trips on Routes 126, 140, 148 and 149, implemented in 2006, be reversed, and that staff report to Transit Committee each year on the operating conditions on Albert and Slater Streets.

MOTION NO. 2/7

Moved by Councillor R. Chiarelli

Seconded by Councillor D. Deans

That Motion No. 2/6 be referred to the Transit Committee.

REFERRAL CARRIED

2005 Directions by Council

The approved environmental assessment for the proposed North-South Light Rail line called for the trains to operate in the same transit lane as the buses on Albert and Slater Streets. To support this operation and to address concerns raised by downtown businesses, Council directed staff to reduce bus operation on Albert and Slater Streets once the light rail line was open. This reduction would have been based on a larger reorganization of the transit route network. In the “hybrid hub and spoke network,” there would have been fewer direct-to-downtown routes, but those that remained would have run more frequently. There would also have been improved cross-town routes bypassing downtown via Carling and Baseline/Heron, to carry customers who previously travelled through downtown but were not travelling to or from points in downtown. And, the light rail line itself would have carried many customers who would otherwise need to ride buses.

The opening of the light rail line and the change to the “hybrid hub and spoke network” would have reduced the number of bus trips by 29 percent eastbound on Slater in the afternoon and westbound on Albert in the morning, by 12 percent westbound on Albert in the afternoon, and by two percent eastbound on Slater in the morning.

With the cancellation of the light rail project in December 2006, the “hybrid hub and spoke network” can no longer be implemented as approved. While current planning processes for the future of rapid transit are underway, there are elements of the revised network plan that are valuable and which are incorporated into the strategies described in this report.

DISCUSSION

Capacity Limits

Experience since 2003

The most congested corridor on the entire transit system is eastbound service on Slater Street and the Mackenzie King Bridge in the afternoon peak period. The most congested point on Slater Street is the bus stop on Slater east of Metcalfe Street.

During the year 2003-04, continuing growth in transit ridership and the resulting required growth in the level of service provided on the transit system led to congestion eastbound on Slater and particularly at Metcalfe exceeding the capacity of the road system. The result was severe delays to eastbound service, affecting not only customers heading east at that time but also customers across the entire transit system as buses were delayed on their eastbound trips from downtown and also on their subsequent trips in other places.

Following the severe delays to service in 2003-04, eastbound services in the afternoon peak period were changed in September 2004. Routes which are not used to travel to points along the Transitway were moved from Slater Street to Queen Street – this affected Routes 3, 221, 231, 232, and commuter services to points outside Ottawa. Routes with the lowest ridership from downtown were cut back to start at Hurdman Station – this affected Routes 124, 126, 140, 148, and 149. These changes reduced the number of buses operating eastbound on Slater in the busiest hour from over 200 to fewer than 180.

As a result of these modest changes, reliability improved markedly. It has become clear from experience that, with the current conditions, the number of bus trips scheduled to run east on Slater Street in the afternoon should not exceed 15 in five minutes or 180 in an hour. Beyond that number, reliability declines quickly, travel time increases quickly, and operating costs will in turn increase as time is added to the schedules to allow for this extra delay. (Note that the same limit of 180 bus trips per hour does not apply in the morning when passenger service time at the platforms is shorter. There will be a limit to capacity in the morning, but it has not yet been reached.)

The following table shows how average travel times through downtown were high in 2003-04 when too many bus trips were scheduled and how times reduced after 2004 when the number of bus trips was reduced.

Years	Number of Scheduled Bus Trips	Average Travel Time in Peak Hour, LeBreton Station to Campus Station
2003-04	203	23 minutes
2004-05	170	16 minutes
2005-06	170	15 minutes
2006-07	173	16 minutes

The table shows that average travel time on Slater Street in the afternoon peak hour reached 23 minutes in 2003-04 and that it declined to 16 minutes after the service changes in September 2004. Note that the table shows the average travel time for all bus trips over an eight-month period; on particular days with bad weather or other causes, the average travel times were much higher.

Since 2004, ridership growth east from downtown in the afternoon peak period has been managed by the careful assignment of high-capacity articulated buses and the careful scheduling of trips at this critical time. Improvements to cross-town routes that bypass downtown have allowed and encouraged some customers to avoid travelling through downtown. Travel times on the Central Area Transitway are monitored daily, and weekly reports are examined internally to ensure that problems are identified as they arise.

Road Capacity for Buses and Platform Capacity for Passengers – General Comments

The critical time of day for bus operating capacity on downtown streets is the afternoon peak period, and the critical direction is eastbound on Slater Street.

The morning is less of a restriction than the afternoon because in the morning most passengers are stepping off buses by all doors, paying no fares, and walking directly away from the bus stop toward their destinations. In the afternoon, most passengers are arriving at the platforms, joining the group of customers already there, waiting for a bus on a particular route, boarding mostly by the front door of buses (boarding by the rear door by pass-holders is allowed on articulated buses), and paying a fare or showing a pass.

The number of buses is greater heading west on Albert in the morning and east on Slater in the afternoon than in the other directions because the number of customers is 25 percent higher travelling from and to the east of downtown than from and to the west. This is largely due to the connection of the Southeast Transitway to the East Transitway east of downtown at Hurdman Station.

Most of the traffic signals along Albert and Slater streets are set to change on a 55-second cycle. This is the interval that Traffic and Parking Operations Branch has found over time provides the best balance between the east-west needs of the heavy transit operation and the north-south needs of auto traffic. This interval also corresponds closely to the length of time that is required for buses to go through a green light, stop at the next bus platform, drop off and pick up customers, and move off from the stop, ready to go through the next green light.

Each bus platform along Albert and Slater Streets is approximately 55 metres long, and has room for either three 60-foot (18-metre) articulated buses or four standard 40-foot (12-metre) buses. As many articulated buses are required to carry the volume of customers on the busiest routes, there are rarely four 40-foot buses in a row, and the service is planned to have no more than three buses move through each green light. At three buses every 55 seconds and with 55-metre platforms, the maximum number of buses that can move through downtown in an hour is 195. Any delay of more than a very few seconds, which could result from such things as weather, a delivery truck in the bus lane, or a bus stopping twice at one platform, takes away capacity which can never be regained until the service levels diminish later on in the afternoon.

During the afternoon peak period, when transit ridership is the highest (and when as a result the number of bus trips required is the highest) and when queuing and boarding time the longest, it has become clear from experience that there is a critical maximum number of buses that can be accommodated reliably on Slater Street. During the year 2003-04, the scheduled number of bus trips running east on Slater Street during the afternoon peak hour was so high that operation became unreliable. Long queues of buses developed on Slater Street west from the platform at Metcalfe Street, the busiest stop in downtown and the stop with the worst location and configuration. As a result, the travel time increased for all customers, especially for those travelling late in or after the busiest hour.

Delay resulting from congestion causes inconvenience for customers by increasing their travel time and also by increasing the variability of travel time, making on-time reliability worse at stops along the route after the zone of congestion. The cost to allow for delay in the schedules of bus routes is very high. Each minute of delay on Slater Street in the busiest hour of the afternoon rush hour requires three more buses to be in service, at a capital cost of approximately $1.5 million and an operating cost of approximately $260,000 per year.

Key Problem Locations

The busiest bus stop along Albert and Slater streets is the eastbound platform at Metcalfe Street. This stop is used by 5,000 customer-trips each day boarding buses and 4,400 customer-trips alighting from buses.

The platform is poorly located, in three ways:

It is on a part of the roadway where there is a narrow sidewalk. The ideal downtown platform configuration is one that has a straight curb for visibility and a wide platform and sidewalk so that there is room for customers to step on and off buses separately from customers waiting for a bus and separately from pedestrians using the sidewalk to travel along the length of the street;
There is a curve in the alignment of the curb at the stop, making it more difficult for bus operations and reducing the view that waiting customers have of the approaching buses and the route and destination information on their front signs; and,
The platform is located immediately on the far side of the signalized intersection, with no room for buses to pause between crossing the intersection and entering the platform, if the buses ahead have not yet left. This is the only platform in downtown that does not have a storage zone for buses between the intersection and the platform.

More information about the poor location and poor arrangement of the eastbound Metcalfe platform is provided in Document 1, from a report prepared for the City by consulting engineers in 2005.

Other downtown platforms which have poor configurations that are secondary sources of delay are:

Eastbound on Slater Street at Kent Street, because of an undefined west end of the platform and because of conflict with delivery trucks;
Westbound on Albert Street at Metcalfe Street, because of the lack of room between the stop and the intersection and because the standing area behind the platform is poorly arranged;
Westbound on Albert Street at Bank Street, because of the lack of room between the stop and the intersection; and,
Westbound on Albert Street at Bay Street, because of conflicts with pedestrians in front of the convenience store.

Actions Being Taken in 2007

1. Improving Platforms

Staff are making improvements this year to the most significant bottleneck on the transit system, the eastbound platform on Slater Street just east of Metcalfe Street. Building on the understanding reached between the City and Hydro Ottawa during the planning for the light rail project, the plans are to move the platform further east so that it is nearer the centre of the block, to straighten the curb so that customers have a better view of the second and third buses approaching the platform, and to make the platform deeper to reduce conflicts among transit customers and with other pedestrians.

Also in 2007, improved passenger waiting facilities and an improved southbound platform will open at Laurier Station, as part of a new building under construction by the University of Ottawa, and staff will make small improvements to the configuration of the eastbound platform on Slater Street at Kent Street, by adjusting the location of the bus stop marker slightly and by installing additional railings to guide waiting customers and bus operations.

Other improvements may be possible to the eastbound platform on Slater Street at Bank Street as part of an adjacent development, and to the westbound platforms on Albert Street at Metcalfe Street and at Bay Street by reconfiguring the platforms, sidewalks, and bus stop and shelter locations.

2. Downtown Bypass Routes

Between five and ten percent of all customers who travel on buses through downtown are travelling between points that are not within downtown (e.g., Orléans to Algonquin College), and could be accommodated on bus routes that bypass downtown if the travel times were more attractive. To encourage these customers to shift to bypass routes, improvements were made in 2006 and are being made in 2007.

In 2006, the frequency of service on cross-town Routes 101/102 was improved and a new link was introduced between Orléans and Tunney’s Pasture via Carling Avenue and Holland Avenue.

Following the 2007 Transit Service Plan and as part of the 2007 City operating budget, Council has approved funding for the extension of Route 118 to provide cross-town service from Orléans to Baseline Station via Heron and Baseline during peak periods and for the extension of most trips on Route 101 (Orléans-Blair-Bayshore-Kanata) to Orléans. The improvements to Route 101 began in April 2007 and the extension of Route 118 will be in place from September 2007.

3. High-Capacity Articulated Buses

Customers can be carried on fewer buses when more customers are carried on each bus. The OC Transpo system now has 227 60-foot articulated buses. These have 54 seats (as compared with 41 seats on a standard 40-foot bus) and normally carry 70 customers (as compared with 45 on a standard 40-foot bus).

In September 2007, ridership growth on frequent east-end express and direct-to-downtown routes will be accommodated by converting trips to use 60-foot articulated buses rather than by adding more trips using standard 40-foot buses. Routes 20, 22, 24, 29, 31, 33, 35 and 94 are expected to require service increases in September 2007 because of growing ridership, and this growth will be accommodated by converting trips during the busiest hour to use articulated buses instead of 40-foot buses. This will provide the required increase in capacity without increasing the number of bus trips scheduled eastbound on Slater Street in the afternoon peak period. (Service increases are also expected to be required on Routes 95 and 97, but as these routes already use articulated buses, the growth will be accommodated by adding more trips.) Another advantage of increasing the use of articulated buses is that boarding time is reduced as all-door boarding is allowed for pass-holders on articulated buses.

The articulated buses will be made available by converting trips elsewhere in the system to use 40-foot buses instead of articulated buses and by adding trips so that the capacity remains the same or is increased appropriately to accommodate the expected growth. This change is expected to affect Routes 61, 66, 70, 71, 76 and 118, and may also affect Routes 4 and 180.

Fifty-seven new 60-foot articulated buses are being acquired for delivery in 2008. With a small internal reconfiguration, the new buses are expected to have 55 seats, one more than the current articulated buses. These additional articulated buses will allow capacity to continue to be increased on busy routes without increasing the number of trips required.

5. Consolidation of Express Routes

The plan for the next three years is to manage service in the central area through:

· Use of high capacity buses;

· Improvements of platforms;

· Moving some service onto other streets; and,

· Attracting customers to cross-town bypass routes.

However, as growth continues, there will come a time when improved use of the available capacity will need to be forced by operating fewer individual bus routes and thus offering customers reduced choice. The timing of this will depend on Council’s decisions on rapid transit.

Currently, Transitway routes, express routes, and direct-to-downtown routes provide direct service from downtown to almost all bus stops east of Blair Road or south of Walkley Road, in addition to most stops inside those points. The provision of direct services certainly has contributed over the years to the high ridership on the OC Transpo system, but as the eastbound capacity on Slater Street is gradually exhausted, it will not be possible to retain all of those direct services. The disadvantages of removing the direct services will at some point be less than the benefit of operating reliable service for all customers.

The consolidation of express routes into fewer express routes was a major characteristic of the “hybrid hub and spoke network” that Council adopted in 2005. In Orléans, for example, 14 express routes would have been replaced by five express routes. The consolidated express routes would have operated more frequently than the current express routes, could have been frequent enough to support high-capacity buses, would have been aligned along arterial roads and major collectors and would have required customers to walk further to points away from these primary roads. (Local bus routes would have continued to provide service on minor collectors and local roads.) By operating fewer express routes, the frequency of each would be higher. By operating more frequent services, the waiting times at downtown stops would be reduced and the number of customers waiting at any particular time would be reduced as a result.

It may be necessary in the longer term beyond 2010 to start to consolidate express routes in the east and south. The first would likely be pairs or groups of routes that operate near each other to serve adjacent areas, or routes with very low ridership and thus low frequency. Any proposed route changes of this type would be presented to customers for comment, following the normal consultation processes defined in the Transit Service and Fare Policies approved by Council, and would be described to Transit Committee in a report at that time.

6. Smartcard Fare System

The Smartcard Electronic Fare Collection system will reduce boarding times at the downtown platforms by reducing the number of people who need to pause at the front entrance of buses to pay their fares. Funding for the Smartcard fare system was approved by Council in the 2007 budget and, if the implementation plan is approved, installation could begin in 2008 and be completed by 2009.

Evaluation of Council Motion

Motion No. 2/6 of December 6, 2006, that was referred by Council to the Transit Committee (see the background section of this report) asks that morning peak period trips on Routes 126, 140, 148 and 149 be extended to downtown as they were before 2006.

While the removal of the downtown extensions of these three routes was consistent with the then-current Council direction to adopt a hybrid hub-and-spoke network, this was not the reason that the changes were made. The 2006 service changes on these routes did not affect the reliability of service on Slater Street in the afternoon peak period, because the changes in 2006 affected only the morning trips to downtown. The afternoon trips from downtown on these three routes had already been removed in 2004.

All sections of all routes are evaluated each year to determine their financial performance and to find whether the financial performance meets the minimum standard set by Council. The downtown extensions of Routes 126, 140, 148, and 149 in the morning peak period had financial performance measures that were worse than the minimum standard. This meant that each service was not used by enough customers that the benefit of the service justified the cost to provide it, and that operating resources were better used elsewhere in the system where they could provide greater benefits for transit customers.

The morning trips to downtown should not be reintroduced, because the benefit that they would provide does not justify the cost required to operate them.

CONSULTATION/PUBLIC NOTIFICATION

TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN

Section 7.2 of the Transportation Master Plan lays out the City’s primary principles for the delivery of a high-quality transit service. The policies in this section were supplemented by the Transit System Management Policies approved by Council in 2005. Among the priorities in the TMP and the policy document are the provision of reliable service, expansion of the service to serve increasing numbers of customers, and the need for a balance between convenience for individual groups of customers and overall benefits for the greater number of customers.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Document 1 Excerpts from Central Area Transitway System Management Study (Dillon Consulting for City of Ottawa, March 2005)

- Consolidation of express routes

- Consolidation des lignes express

2003-04

5. Consolidation of Express Routes