With the new light rail transit (LRT) line being built for 2018, I’ve frequently heard OC Transpo struggles described as “short-term pain for long term gain.” This would maybe be acceptable if they were truly short-term, but they’re not. I’ve been using OC Transpo regularly for nearly 10 years, and it’s never failed to consistently let me down.

I think pretty much anyone living in Ottawa, especially those who commute from the outskirts, know what I’m talking about. Busses are very often late, sometimes they never come at all, and sometimes they’re filled to the brim with passengers while four empty “out of service” buses whiz by. Other times the stops are so inefficiently located that it takes less time to walk somewhere than to take a bus.

OC Transpo always claims it’s improving its service and making changes to benefit commuters, but it frequently does the complete opposite. In December, it removed the 93 (which got people from Kanata to Lebreton), making the commute much longer than it used to be. My friend Danijela busses from Morgan’s Grant to Algonquin, and she says the new buses come at really inconvenient times and she’s “never walked further to a bus stop in her life.” Driving from Kanata to downtown takes about 20-25 minutes, while bussing can take over an hour and a half, not including possible (but let’s be real, probable) delays.

I see angry posts about OC Transpo on social media all the time. I hear complaints about it from friends. Hating OC Transpo has become a quintessential part of being a commuter in Ottawa, and this is very apparent in angry Facebook posts, Tweets, reddit threads, etc. I mean, it’s even been made into memes.

Last year, OC Transpo closed down a major Ottawa U bus stop right in the middle of their exam season. More recently, they closed off several major transitway stations (Tunney’s Pasture and Blair) to make room for the new LRT line, and this basically doubled people’s commutes. And in terms of delays, OC Transpo’s latest schedule adherence report basically proves my argument—the overall rate of buses running regular routes coming on time is 65 per cent. This means there is slightly more than a 50-50 chance of you getting to your destination on time when using OC Transpo.

So why are we paying full price for a service that only works effectively 65 per cent of the time? It’s like going to a hair salon and paying regular price only for them to cut 65 per cent of your hair. Why are the standards of service so much lower for OC Transpo than other services?

Using OC Transpo is the only option a lot of residents in Ottawa have to get to work or school. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the people who have to rely on it to get to a job in order to feed and support their family. OC Transpo has been horrendous for as long as I can remember, and it seems like City of Ottawa doesn’t care the least bit about improving it. The only promising step they’ve taken to mend this problem is to introduce the new LRT line. I’m sure this will be a major improvement to the current public transit situation in Ottawa once it’s open, but it’s not fair that we have to suffer until this happens.

– Photo by Angela Tilley