Adult bus-pass sales lag in year’s first half

Transpo expects $4.1M revenue shortfall, despite higher youth and EquiPass sales

Sales of adult monthly transit passes were below expectations in the first half of 2018 as OC Transpo girds for a projected $4.1-million revenue shortfall for the year, and that’s not even accounting for the LRT delay.

The transit commission on Wednesday learned that Transpo budgeted to sell 281,847 adult monthly passes between January and June, but it sold only 268,986 passes.

On top of that, single-fare Presto e-purse transactions were about $2.5 million short of what Transpo thought it would make in those six months.

There was some good news: Transpo sold more youth passes and HquiPasses than expected in the first half of the year. And the ridership level increased about one per cent from the same period in 2017.

But the low number of adult passes worries some transit commissioners.

Coun. Jeff Leiper challenged Transpo to survey residents about why they aren’t taking public transit. According to Leiper, people are weighing the cost of Transpo fares against the time spent taking the bus.

Construction sites have forced bus detours. Buses back up through the downtown.

“The system is becoming increasingly unreliable,” Leiper said after the commission meeting. “We have consistent 2.5-per-cent (fare) increases, despite the ongoing reliability issues of the system, like clockwork every year.”

Transpo doesn’t know why there were fewer adult passes purchased than expected.

John Manconi, general manager of transportation, said the public transit industry in North America is trying to find reasons for declining ridership. There doesn’t seem to be one obvious answer, he said.

Manconi disputed Leiper’s suggestion that one factor in Ottawa is a lack of confidence in the LRT system actually launching.

The transit department is counting on LRT to save the day.

The city still doesn’t know when the Rideau Transit Group will hand over a completed LRT system. The Nov. 2 handover date has been scrubbed.

RTG’s proposed Nov. 30 handover date isn’t drawing much confidence from the people in charge at city hall.

The LRT line might launch sometime between January and March, but even that isn’t set in stone.

“What we don’t want to do, I think everyone agrees, is announce another date prematurely and continue this cycle of setting expectations and not meeting them,” said Coun. Stephen Blais, chair of the transit commission.

Both Blais and Manconi said they have heard from more residents who are excited for the launch of a safe LRT system than those who are concerned about when the largest infrastructure project in the city will be done.

Transpo projects a 2018 budget deficit of $815,000, but that estimate was done before news of the LRT delay earlier this month.

More than 300 bus drivers expected to be laid off on Fec. 1 will need to stay on the job. On the other hand, Transpo will save money from not making maintenance payments for the LRT system as long as the LRT system isn’t running.