Transpo agrees to ‘tweak’ a few route changes
OC Transpo will “tweak” some of the bus routes recently changed in preparation for LRT, but customers who voiced concerns about the alterations shouldn’t expect a full reversal.
John Manconi, the city’s general manager of transportation, used the word “tweak” several times during a transit commission meeting on Wednesday as a way to manage the expectations of commissioners and the fare-paying public. Reversing all of the route changes — some contentious — from earlier this month is simply too difficult, he said.
“It would take months to do for a bunch of reasons — customer communications, maps, booking with our operators and so forth — so we can’t do that, but we’ve heard the message loud and clear, there’s some issues out there and we’re going to try our best on a few of those routes to see if we can adjust them and check in with the councillors,” Manconi told reporters.
Transpo figures about 12 routes were adjusted specifically in preparation for an LRT launch in November.
However, the Confederation Line isn’t launching then. The project handover to the city has been delayed, and no one knows yet when the $2.1-billion rail line will open.
The busy Route 11, which has been squeezed in the recent route changes, is of particular interest to councillors Catherine McKenney and Jeff Leiper.
Leiper hopes Transpo will be “open-minded” about extending the Route 11 bus one more stop to the Rideau Centre, rather than stopping at Elgin Street.
A major factor in toying with the routes is Transpo’s workforce. Drivers book work months in advance, so throwing a wrench into the work schedule is complicated, especially since Transpo doesn’t know when LRT will launch. Transpo and the union have to sort out how any route changes will affect staff schedules.
Another difficulty is the interconnected nature, what’s called the “interlining,” of Transpo’s bus network. Buses finish routes and then sometimes get sent to completely different routes. Or, buses might get diverted mid-route to
We’ve heard the message loud and clear, there’s some issues out there and we’re going to try our best on a few of those routes.
add more capacity to a busy route. Interlining is an intensely planned process, with staff making sure buses get to their scheduled stops across the system.
A third factor is budget. Transpo doesn’t have extra money to make dramatic route changes. In fact, the transit agency doesn’t know if it will even be compensated for any unbudgeted costs tied to the LRT delay.
This comes as Transpo goes through an unpredictable year for revenue.
Not even taking into account the LRT delay, Transpo projects it will be short $4.1 million in revenue at the end of the year, contributing to an overall budget deficit estimate of $815,000.