Survey shows Canadians want action on climate change

In a Léger poll commissioned by Équiterre, 71% of Canadians say they want their next federal government, regardless of its political stripe, to do more to address climate change, to adapt to its consequences and to protect nature.

Survey: A strong majority of Canadians wants more environmental action from the next government

81% of respondents see investing in public transit systems as the preferred solution to the ever-worsening problem of congestion.

Surveys like this give me hope. Canadians want action on climate change – advocating for better public transit is action towards building a better world.

Next … we need to ask people in Ottawa to VOTE as if they cared about the environment.

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Election debate on Monday, Feb 10th

The provincial election is upon us!

The campaign is short since election day is February 27th.

Do you have questions? Are you curious what each party plans for transit?

The Ottawa Transit Riders invites you to a debate on public transit. We have invited representatives from all the major parties to attend.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/provincial-election-debate-on-public-transit-tickets-1233161422009?aff=oddtdtcreator

Date: Monday, February 10, 2025

Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Location: Jack Purcell Community Centre (320 Jack Purcell Ln), Room 203. Accessible by the 5 and 14 bus routes on Elgin Street, or a 15-minute walk from the uOttawa LRT station.

Engage with the candidates and learn about their party platforms on transit in Ottawa and Ontario. This in-person event will be a chance to put the spotlight on transit issues and the role the provincial government can play in shaping transit in our city!

We will hear from the following candidates:

Catherine McKenney: candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party in Ottawa Centre

Christian Proulx: candidate for the Green Party of Ontario in Ottawa-Vanier

Thomas Simpson: candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in Ottawa Centre

Candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario TBD.

Note: This debate will be held primarily in English. The meeting room is physically accessible with elevators and accessible washrooms.

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Transit Forum in Rideau-Vanier Feb 22

Ottawa Transit Riders and Free Transit Ottawa are teaming up to host a transit forum in Rideau-Vanier. If you live in this neighbourhood, or ride the bus here, or just have strong opinions about public transit in Ottawa, come and join us.

Saturday, February 22 at 2:30 PM

270 Marier Avenue, Community room, 1st floor.

Buses 12 and 19

Le groupe des usagers de transport en commun à Ottawa et Free Transit Ottawa s'associent pour organiser un forum sur le transport en commun à Rideau-Vanier. Si vous vivez dans ce quartier, si vous y prenez l'autobus ou si vous avez simplement des opinions bien arrêtées sur le transport en commun à Ottawa, venez vous joindre à nous.

Samedi 22 février à 14 h 30

270, avenue Marier, salle communautaire, 1er étage.

Autobus 12 ou 19

 

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Consultations on dedicated bus lanes - TODAY (Thursday)

The city is hosting consultations on Baseline's Bus Rapid Transit proposal (aka dedicated bus lanes). 

As most people who remember Ottawa's Transitway understand, such bus lanes are a cheap and effective way to make transit more efficient. Members of the Ottawa Transit Riders are encouraged to attend.

Ottawa hosting public meeting on proposed Baseline BRT plan

 

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Public servants and transit on Christmas Eve

If you’re a public servant or know one, you may be aware of the game that is played on Christmas Eve called “will we go home early?”

Officially, December 24th is a regular workday. If you want to take if off, you have to take the full 7.5 hours. But UNOFFICIALLY, sometimes public servants are allowed to go home early.

What does that mean? Well, if you ARE allowed to leave work early, you flood into the streets to discover that there are few buses because neither OC Transpo nor STO plan for an influx of commuters going home at noon. Office start and finish times are usually staggered, which minimizes rush hour pressure, but not on Christmas Eve.

So transit is a mess. And once people have played this game a few times, they realize that transit doesn’t function that day so lots and LOTS of people drive to work on Christmas Eve – thus increasing traffic and parking woes during an already busy season.

Let’s stop playing this silly game.

Treasury Board should decide in advance if December 24th is a full day or a half day. And they should warn the transit system well in advance … like six months in advance so that OC Transpo and STO can make arrangements for the day.

We’re adults. Pretending to be delightfully surprised when the boss sends us home early one day per year is a little beneath us.

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Dude, where's my bus?

Very grateful to Gio Petti for his hard work creating a documentary on how we got into this situation with transit in Ottawa. We used to have a functioning system!

Dude, where's my bus?

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What happened at Transit Commission?

Budget “consultations” are ongoing in Ottawa.

I use quotations because none of this is meaningful collaboration with residents or voters or people affected by the decisions at City Hall.

Most decisions are made in backrooms before they are presented to the public. Then the city holds performative exercises.

Four members of the Ottawa Transit Riders spoke at yesterday’s Transit Commission meeting among the 38 people who signed up to speak. Some other speakers were well-known – Alex Cullen, a former city councillor and member of the Council on Aging; Nick Grover from Free Transit Ottawa; and Sam Hersh from Horizon Ottawa for example.

Many seniors explained why raising fares hurt them. Many students spoke about the harm of raising fares. Delphine Robitaille, Students’ Union President at University of Ottawa noted that she was not informed in advance of the proposal to raise U-Pass fares by more than 5% which is a direct violation of the agreement with OC Transpo and the city to limit fare increases.

In the end, the Commission voted on one amendment – to raise senior fares by “only” 60% rather than the original proposed hike of 120%. The Transit Commission is not allowed to propose tax increases (as an alternative to fare increases).

City councillors will vote on the whole budget on December 11th.

Many items in the proposed budget rely on things that are unlikely to happen – other levels of government offering the city new funds, students agreeing to drastic fare increases (a referendum is necessary for it to pass), and fare enforcement bringing in a windfall. It is not clear what the city will do when these things do not happen.

You can participate in a survey on whether raising senior fares is fair here:

Survey Proposed increase in seniors transit fares - Is it fair?

You can also sign a petition from Horizon Ottawa here: PETITION: No Cuts to Public Transit - Horizon Ottawa

Here are some articles about the Transit Commission

Plan to cut seniors' pass fare hike in half passes at Transit Commission | CTV News

Seniors give transit commission earful about fare increases | Ottawa Citizen

CBC Ottawa News - November 25, 2024 | CBC.ca

Councillors move to pare back fare increase for seniors, but other changes on hold | CBC News

 

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What does the budget mean for transit?

The city is working on the 2025 budget right now. A draft was presented to city council that proposed increased transit fares and a modest increase in the transit levy (part of city taxes).

Draft Budget 2025 - Transit Commission Condensed Book EN.pdf

One shocking proposal was to raise fares for seniors by 120%. Not surprisingly, a lot of people pushed back and the city is now reconsidering. Seniors have significant power in Ottawa.

City backs down on big transit fare increases for seniors | Ottawa Citizen

City ready to reconsider 120% hike to transit passes for seniors, mayor says | CBC News

The Ottawa Transit Riders advocates for better public transit for everyone – seniors, youth, people on low income, people with disability, and people who care about climate change. We want the city to freeze fares (and eventually to reduce fares) while raising the transit levy to improve service.

Youth don’t have the lobbying power of seniors in this city, but it’s downright disgraceful how the city keeps making lives harder.

The draft budget proposes to increase student fares by 5% which is a violation of the U-Pass agreement that OC Transpo has with local colleges and universities. Every transit agency wants a regular guaranteed source of revenue and the U-Pass provides OC Transpo with 20% of its revenue.

Some university representatives have warned that if the city continues to treat students badly, they will withdraw from the U-Pass.

uOttawa student union says OC Transpo breaching U-Pass agreement with proposed fare increases | CTV News

uOttawa to reconsider participation in U-Pass if city increases student fares, student union says

So what can we do?

  1. Sign Horizon’s petition
  2. Email your city councillor (and other city councillors) to tell them that you want them to support public transit
  3. Attend the Transit Commission meeting on Monday, November 26th

Advocacy got the city to back down on senior fare increases – we can make our voices heard for other transit riders as well.

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Book Club discussion on transit Nov 25th

People who like to talk about transit might be interested to hear that the Ottawa Urbanism book club is going to discuss “Better Buses, Better Cities” at their meeting on November 25th.

This is a drop in event – you do not need to register.

Ottawa Urbanism Book Club

The November book is Better Buses, Better Cities. How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit by Steven Higashide. Sunnyside Library, 1049 Bank St, Ottawa. Monday, November 25th from 6:15 PM to 7:45 PM.

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Bus lanes on Bank street

The Ottawa Transit Riders wishes that the city would use evidence and data to make decisions. There are lots of studies showing that dedicated bus lanes reduce congestion and improve transit.

Strong Towns Ottawa is another group fighting for a better city. Here is their well-thought out argument about how to improve Bank street: Let’s Make a Better Bank Street – Strong Towns Ottawa

They point out that only 7% of available parking spots are ON Bank street. This might surprise people who have been following the debate since the pro-parking people seem to think that Bank street is the ONLY place anyone can park in the Glebe.

Not true.

They are calling for the city to remove parking on Bank street to have 24/7 bus lanes.

Here are some things that people can do.

  • Sign their petition
  • Email your comments to the project manager, Lise Guevremont, at [email protected] 
  • Stay updated on the project here
  • Join groups that are fighting for a better city – Strong Towns Ottawa has a discord and a Facebook account.
  • Tell your friends and family to make their voices heard as well

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