Group hoping to see new approach to transit from next city council

By MIke Vlasveld, 1310 News, October 1, 2018 Sam Boswell of Ottawa's Healthy Transportation Coalition says OC Transpo buses are unreliable, their routes change with no public consultation, and feels too many neighbourhoods are being left without transit options. She will be part of a meeting Monday night at the Francophone Centre on 270 Marier Avenue, at Montreal Road, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Ottawa Transit Riders Group members are expected on hand, and Boswell said she's been getting lots of support from ward candidates and current city councillors. At tonight's meeting, the group will be discussing what residents need, in which areas of the city, problems with OC Transpo bus service and how some of these issues can be solved. OC Transpo recently reported that it is expecting to lose $4.1-million in revenue after not selling as many adult monthly passes as projected. Boswell told 1310 NEWS' The Rick Gibbons Show thinks there are ways to fix that. "If you look at transit studies around North America -- anywhere where the buses, you can count on them showing up every five to ten minutes, and it's affordable -- the ridership goes up," she explained. "What we're seeing [in Ottawa] is the opposite -- the buses are not reliable, we're either the highest or second-highest in Canada, in terms of transit fares -- that's not a recipe for getting people to leave their cars at home and take the bus, unfortunately." Listen to the full conversation with Sam Boswell: Monday evening's event is the second such meeting between transit rider groups in Ottawa.