OC Transpo’s route changes kick in Sunday

Bus lines designed to funnel passengers to LRT stations set to open in November

On Sunday, OC Transpo’s new fall bus service will come into effect, and for many people the route numbers on the bus will look a little different.

Don’t worry, it’s all part of the plan as the system gets, as it likes to say, #ready4rail.

It’s moving toward more of a feeder/trunk system meaning that, when the LRT opens (hopefully in November), more buses will feed passengers towards LRT stations.

The changes will mostly affect people who live and/or work in downtown, Orléans, Vanier, Overbrook and around the Ottawa Hospital.

Here are the changes:

DOWNTOWN

Route 4, which many students on Bronson take to get to Carleton University, will be renumbered as Route 10.

Route 6 and Route 7 will be slightly altered to connect to the future Parliament LRT Station. Instead of turning south from Wellington on to Bank Street, they’ll turn south on Elgin, go west on Queen, and then continue as they do currently, south along Bank.

Route 11 will be shortened to run between Confederation Square on Elgin and the Lincoln Fields transitway station, and will no longer run all the way out to Bayshore.

Route 12 will now end at Metcalfe and Queen.

Route 16 will, between Elgin and Lyon, start travelling on Queen, rather than the Albert/Slater combination it runs on now.

Route 17 will also be modified slightly to use Queen Street when travelling east.

Route 19 will now end at the future Parliament LRT Station.

ORLÉANS

Route 32 will be extended to Blair Station, and service between Jeanne d’Arc Station and Place d’Orléans Station will be replaced by Route 34.

Route 34 will be combined with the route formerly known as Route 134, and will run as a new, full-day Route 34.

Route 38 will be combined with the old Route 131, and will run as a full-day Route 38.

A new Route 138 will run between Place d’Orléans Station and the Saint-Louis Residence.

VANIER & OVERBROOK

Route 18 and Route 19 will be routed more directly to St. Laurent Station. The route east of Marier Avenue will be replaced by a new route, Route 20.

The new Route 20 will run between St-Laurent Station and Beechwood Avenue, replacing a section of Route 19 and continuing to serve the Montfort Hospital and the Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre.

OTTAWA HOSPITAL, GENERAL CAMPUS

Route 45 will now run seven days a week.

Route 106 will be revised to only run on the southern part of Ring Road.

MISCELLANY

Route 107, which only runs as the temporary replacement when O -Trail Line 2 (soon-to-be-formerly known as the Trillium Line), will be renumbered as R2. (Not Route R2, just “R2.”).

Summer weekend routes that travel to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (Route 129), Petrie Island (Route 139) and the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, and the Experimental Farm (Route 185) will all end after Labour Day.